


This Family We Forged

by bexgempisces



Series: Connected [1]
Category: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. (TV), The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Found Family, Hurt/Comfort, Kid Skye | Daisy Johnson, Multi, Natasha Romanov Needs a Hug, Natasha and Bobbi make great parents, Past Child Abuse, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Protective Bobbi Morse, Protective Natasha Romanov, Red Room (Marvel), Skye | Daisy Johnson Needs a Hug
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-16
Updated: 2020-11-11
Packaged: 2021-03-08 23:47:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 20
Words: 29,460
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27045250
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bexgempisces/pseuds/bexgempisces
Summary: “It’s the Red Room, Nat.” Her blood ran cold. “We’ve got another one.” Her skin was ice. Her mind was blank and suddenly all she could remember was pointe shoes and blood and guns and the freezing Russian winters skating on the lake before killing a girl with her skate blade. They couldn’t be back.They couldn’t.-SHIELD take down the Red Room and find Daisy, their newest Widow. Natasha and Bobbi find themselves looking after the little assassin and slowly but surely make a new family.
Relationships: Bobbi Morse/Natasha Romanov, Natasha Romanov & Skye | Daisy Johnson
Series: Connected [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2012164
Comments: 77
Kudos: 407





	1. First Meeting

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, here’s what you need to know for this fic:  
> -Daisy is eight years old and was in the Red Room  
> -Natasha and Bobbi are a couple  
> -Laura and Clint are together by this point and have Cooper and Lila  
> -Jemma and Fitz are the same age as Nat and Bobbi and are together  
> -Trip is the same age as Daisy 
> 
> WARNINGS: past child abuse, past Red Room, PTSD, canon typical violence, brainwashing
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

“This had better be worth distracting me, Coulson.” Natasha warned when her phone rang in the middle of a mission. She was on a stake out in Peru, the target was currently in a restaurant and she was waiting on him leaving. 

“Fury needs you to come in.” Coulson sounded stressed. Nat didn’t blame him, he was her and Clint’s handler, that would give anyone a headache. 

“I thought he needed me to kill this douchebag in Peru?” She questioned, annoyed that he was just changing her mission like that. She hated that. 

“It’s the Red Room, Nat.” Her blood ran cold. “We’ve got another one.” Her skin was ice. Her mind was blank and suddenly all she could remember was pointe shoes and blood and guns and the freezing Russian winters skating on the lake before killing a girl with her skate blade. They couldn’t be back. 

They couldn’t. 

“When does my extraction get here?” She asked in a dangerously low voice and she almost feel Coulson tensing through the phone. 

“Ten minutes.” 

She shoots the guy in the head through the restaurant window and punches a wall hard enough to probably fracture a finger or two. But she doesn’t care. The Red Room were still destroying lives, some other little girl had been turned to marble, moulded to be a Widow. Some other little girl was damaged because she was not strong enough to take them down. 

_Fuck_. 

* * *

  
The girl before her does not look like a threat. But neither did she. She sat exactly like this girl ten years ago when she was brought into SHIELD, when Clint gave her a chance instead of a bullet in her head. That same straight back posture, eyes viewing every exit, hands tightened on weapons hidden from everyone’s view but hers. She was this girl.

Sometimes she thinks she still is. Sometimes Natalia doesn’t feel too far away from Natasha, both girl and woman mixing and meddling in her head until she remembers. She is not marble, she is human. She is not just the Black Widow, but Agent Natasha Romanoff; friend, lover, fighter. 

But this little girl doesn’t know that yet. 

“What’s your name?” She asks the girl. She can’t be anymore than seven, but she can be deceiving. Knowing the Red Room, she could be anywhere from age five to age twelve. 

“They’ve been looking for you, Natalia.” The girl smirked, fist tightening around a small knife in her sleeve. Did no one check her for weapons? 

“Were you sent here to kill me?” Natasha questioned right back. Her stomach tightened at the fact that they were still looking for her, that this girl knew her real name, knew her past. 

“The Red Room is gone. SHIELD destroyed it. I don’t have anywhere else to go.” The girl admitted, a small glimmer of sadness passing her eyes before it disappeared. It made her fists clench but she remembered that the girl hadn’t been deprogrammed yet, hadn’t experience the real world. All she knew was the Red Room, of course she missed it. 

“Мне все равно нужно имя.” (I’m still gonna need a name.) Natasha softly told the girl in Russian. The girl looked at her carefully, but seemed to appreciate the change to her home tongue. 

“It’s Daisy.” She said softly, hand unclenching the knife in her sleeve. Natasha felt a rush of sadness for the girl. No one deserved their upbringing, that dark pain and dirty red in their ledger. No one. 

“Okay Daisy, why are you here?” Natasha tried again. This was what Fury wanted, this was why she was here. She’d been through this, had answered these exact same questions, she was their best option. 

“I don’t want to kill people anymore.” Daisy admitted bluntly, fingers drumming on the desk. “I want to help people, not hurt them.” 

“And you think you can do that here?” 

“Well it’s here or jail or death, so I’m going with my best option.” Daisy raised an eyebrow at her, small features carving into amusement. 

“You’ll have to go through deprogramming. The Red Room mess with your head, we’ll need to remove it.” Natasha warned her. Deprogramming wasn’t easy, it required hours in uncomfortable headgear, under observation, going through your worst memories. It was interrogation after interrogation, hooked up to all sorts of wires and machines. It was reaching breaking point and being dragged back a different person. 

She’d been an adult when she’d gone through, what was it going to be like for Daisy? 

“Can’t be any worse than training.” Daisy said and Natasha had to disagree. Deprogramming forced you to relive that training, to teach you it was wrong. She’d lived killing Katya, Alia, Irina, Khristina, Yelena, twice. She’d lived every mission she’d went on for the KGB, every mark, every man, every ballet class, twice. She’d lived the graduation process twice. 

Deprogramming was definitely worse. 

“How old are you?” She’s honestly expecting a lie, Widow’s were taught deception at an early age. 

“Ten.” Daisy replied but her eyes suggest something else. No one else would have caught it, but Natasha was taught the exact same tricks. 

“Быть честным.” (Be honest.) She warns the girl. Daisy visibly flinches. They haven’t quite taught her to be marble yet, there is still hope. 

“Восемь.” (Eight.) Daisy sighs. Her fingers are still drumming the table, an old rhythm that taunts some faraway memory in Natalia’s childhood. A barre, pointe shoes, Madame and her cane, the body on the floor as they danced. That song in the background. 

That song was the soundtrack to her time in the Red Room. The girls sang it to each other after hard days or when one of them was crossed off. They sang it to the younger girls, trying to calm their aching bodies and fractured minds. That song haunted her like a ghost and now Daisy was tapping out the notes. 

“Who taught you Баюшки-баю?” 

“Anastasia. She said that the older girls taught her.” Daisy replied, clenching her fist guiltily. Natasha could guess what happened to Anastasia. 

“Come on, we’ll start your deprogramming.” Natasha said eventually. It was getting harder to breathe under Daisy’s critical eye, no matter the fact that she was only eight years old, harder to maintain her mask. 

“What’ll happen after?” Daisy asked. 

“You’ll get assigned a handler and they’ll decide where you’ll live, considering you’re literally a child and SHIELD don’t employ children.” Natasha explained and a look of panic set over Daisy’s face. 

“You’re not going to put me in the system are you?” She asked timidly, a complete change from her normal demeanour. 

“No, we could lose you and unfortunately, Red Room assassins are assets. You’ll probably get a guardian at SHIELD, live on base or something.” Natasha tells her, though she slides the fear of the foster system into her file on Daisy. Maybe she was taken from an orphanage? Madame was famous for that. 

Daisy just nods and continues tapping the table. The girl constantly fidgets, something Madame would have tried to stamp out of her. Maybe she was stronger than Natalia, maybe the Red Room hadn’t fully brainwashed her yet. She’d find out soon enough. 

An agent comes to the door and Natasha knows that it’s time for the deprogramming. Daisy senses his presence and immediately clutches her knife again. 

“You have to leave your weapons here.” Natasha tells her softly and Daisy looks at her in fear. She knew that fear, it took her two years to stop sleeping with throwing knives in her hands and a gun under her pillow. 

“You can have them back later, you can’t take them into deprogramming, it’s the rule.” She tells her and Daisy nods. The girl pulls out the knife from her sleeve, three from her waistband, a small gun from her thigh and katana blades that had been strapped to her back. 

“All of them.” Natasha warns her. 

Daisy sighs and pulls a small blade out of her sock. Natasha nods at her, knowing the girl could still defend herself anyway without the weapons. You learned to fight with your body before weapons and Madame taught them well by Daisy’s age. 

That thought made her want to vomit. 

She stands and walks round to the door, nodding at Daisy to do the same. The girl stands and it’s then that Natasha notices just how small she really is. Daisy barely come up to her abdomen. She’s all thin limbs and straight posture, her body radiating fear and tension. This was a child, a child who was made into a weapon just like she was. She stares at Daisy and wonders how she let this happen again. 

The agent clears their throat and she’s snapped back to reality, turning to glare at the agent before walking out the door, knowing Daisy will follow. 

She also knows about the blade Daisy slipped back into her sock. If that’s what she needed to feel comfortable, then Natasha was going to let her have it, rules be damned. 


	2. Deprogramming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deprogramming is never easy, but it’s a whole lot harder when it’s so close to home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey, I’m glad everyone liked the first chapter! I’m genuinely in love with writing this story and I have no clue where it’s going but I’m vibing with it. 
> 
> There is a fuck ton of Russian in this because all three of them speak it, but I provided English translations. I used a translator website for all the languages used so it might be off but let me know if the vocabulary is wrong. 
> 
> WARNINGS: red room abuse, brainwashing, child killings, child soldiers, past child abuse
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

If going through deprogramming was hard, then watching it is almost excruciating. 

Daisy is visibly uncomfortable the minute she sits in the chair. They’re starting with the “memory transfers” first. Some scientist puts a transmitter on your head, electrodes all over your skin, and watches the brain activity whilst you relive your worst memories. Natasha still had nightmares about it. 

They start small, Daisy’s happier memories. Running through the woods outside the facility, the day she got her pointe shoes, the first knife that hit the target, the first snow she saw. 

But then Natasha hears the exact words she’s been trying to block for the past ten years. 

“ _I am marble_. ” Daisy shrieks, anger overtaking the light memories, fists shaking in fear and her vitals going nuts. Natasha...no, not Natasha,  _ Natalia _ , back then screamed it too. It is ingrained in them from the minute they begin training, Madame’s cane whacking the words deeper and deeper into your brain until you begin to believe it too. 

But this is not Natalia strapped to the chair again, she is Natasha, watching Daisy from the viewing window. Daisy is screaming angry curse words in Russian, Polish, French, Arabic, Latin at one point, and Natasha knows from the hands desperately trying to break away from the chair to protect her head, Daisy is reliving the beatings. Strong guards at night, driving home the messages with their fists and boots. God, was it always like this? 

“Yeah, it’s worse on this side of the glass.” Clint appears behind her. His hand slips into hers and he squeezes tightly. He was there through it all, he knows how this is affecting her. 

“Did I scream that much?” She asks, voice flat of emotions. Inside, she is screaming, Daisy is too young to have this in her head, too small to be screaming those screams about things that she couldn’t change. She already feels an overwhelming protectiveness of the girl, something that makes her chest clench with fear. 

“Yeah. I had to leave halfway through when you got to Yelena. I don’t think I’ve seen Coulson so pale in all my time of knowing him.” Clint admits, his muscles tensing as he takes in the scene in front of him. Daisy’s the same age as Lila, it could so easily be her in that chair. 

Daisy lets out another string of curses, before her face twists into something sad and guilty and pained. They’ve reached the first kill. Daisy screams about a girl called Anya, about how she didn’t want to, how she was sorry. Natasha wants to throw up. This is all too familiar, all too real. Sasha was her first, red blood splattering the white snow because Madame decided that Sasha hadn’t done as well in the skate off and five year old Natalia had to earn her place. 

“You don’t have to be here for this, Nat.” Clint whispers softly, but she knows she has to stay. This is her responsibility now, her burden to carry. It became hers when she failed to take down the Red Room the first time therefore, it’s her fault that Daisy is in that chair. 

“Is Bobbi here?” She whispers eventually, letting the emotions leak into her voice. Clint smirks despite the circumstances. 

“Would you like me to go get her?” He asks, his tone playful and teasing. He pales however when Natasha gives him a withering glare and leaves to go find Bobbi. 

Natasha turns back to Daisy and her stomach rolls again. Daisy is sobbing, whispering names like prayers of girls she couldn’t save. Anya, Maia, Maria, Anastasia, Rachel, Olivia, Georgia. Her entire body shakes as she recounts her first mission, last year in Moscow, and how she shot the guy in the head. She talks about training, endless hours spent in the studio, Madame’s cane on her back when she didn’t do well enough and it’s so vivid that Natasha can feel the same strokes on her back. 

“Nat?” Bobbi’s voice floats through the fog in her brain and centres her back to reality. 

“Hey.” She manages, letting her defences down in front of Bobbi. Daisy’s still screaming, but Bobbi grabs her hand and pulls her close and it doesn’t feel like it’s all her fault. 

“Ты в порядке, нат?” (You good, Nat?) Bobbi whispers in her ear and she shakes her head. She won’t ever be okay so long as there is still little girls that have to sit in that chair. 

“It’s gonna be okay, she’s safe now.” Bobbi tells her, stroking a hand through her hair. Who would ever believe that the great Black Widow could be so soft? But it feels right with Bobbi, she loves her. She learned long ago that love was not just for children.

“Hey, we’re done in here.” The agent that was monitoring Daisy’s vitals informed them through the intercom. Natasha immediately snaps out of Bobbi’s arms and heads into the room. 

Daisy’s head was bowed and her limbs had ceased movement. Natasha approached slowly and cautiously, letting her footsteps be heard so Daisy would hear her coming. 

“I’m going to undo the restraints okay, Daisy?” She told the girl, who didn’t even react to her words. She wasn’t too concerned, she didn’t speak to anyone for hours after this. 

She released Daisy’s arms from the chair and her legs and was about to start on her chest belt when she felt the small poke of a knife in her ribs. 

“Почему ты так со мной поступаешь?” (Why would you do that to me?) Daisy’s voice was angry and low, tears forming in her eyes again. Okay, maybe not the best idea to let her keep the blade. 

“Это необходим.” (It’s necessary.) Natasha replied shortly, really trying not to concentrate on the fact that an eight year old was holding her at knife point. Although she knew just what this eight year old was capable of. 

“Почему?” (Why?) 

“Потому что красная комната научит тебя куче дерьма и нам нужно его убрать.” (Because the Red Room teach you a bunch of crap and we need to remove it.) Bobbi replied from the door, gun drawn at the girl. Daisy snarled angrily, and pressed the knife further into Natasha’s side, hard enough to draw blood, though not fully puncture. 

“I didn’t want to see that again.” Daisy whispered, eyes full of rage and sadness. Natasha understood and felt an overwhelming rush of hurt for this girl. She hadn’t wanted to see it all either, but it was important. It’s was the first step to breaking free. 

“I’m sorry, Daisy, but you had to.” Natasha told her softly, twisting her body away from the knife, and easily grabbing it from the girl. Daisy slumps back in the chair, drawing her knees up to her chest, letting the tears flow. 

“Извините.” (I’m sorry.) She whispered and Natasha looks helplessly at Bobbi. Bobbi looks equally confused, putting her gun back in her holster. Natasha was angry and withdrawn when she went through this, only sobbing when she was safely in a bunk on her own. 

“It’s okay. You didn’t know.” Natasha tells Daisy but Daisy shakes her head. 

“Przepraszam.” (Sorry) Polish this time. 

“ معذرة . “ Arabic. 

“Вибачвтися.” Ukrainian. 

“Ho sento.” Catalan, her voice was raising to a shout. 

“Sorry. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m-“ 

“Daisy! That’s enough!” Bobbi eventually commanded and Daisy flinched. “It’s okay.” 

“I broke, Madame will be mad at me.” Daisy whispered, pressing her head into her knees. 

“She’s dead, she can’t hurt you.” Natasha informed her, still shaken from the girl’s outburst.

“It’s really gone?” Daisy asked and Natasha could see the relief on her face. It didn’t matter how loyal you were to the Red Room, all the girls wanted out. 

“It’s gone, you’re safe.” Bobbi told her gently, chancing coming closer. She squeezed Natasha’s hand before unclipping the belt on Daisy’s chest. 

“Спасибо.” (Thank you.) Daisy whispered, her body curling into a ball in relief. 

“No problem, звезда.” (Star.) Bobbi whispered, and Natasha nodded at her.


	3. Us?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bonds are made.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I’m overwhelmed by the positive feedback to this and I’m so glad yall are liking it! 
> 
> oh yeah, so coulson and May are already a couple in this but Andrew is gonna appear later because both daisy and nat need therapy and lots of it 
> 
> I was toying with the idea of giving daisy her powers? Lemme know if yall wanna see that in here, like the Red room knew about her heritage and granted her her powers to use as a weapon and she can control them but not very well? Idk let me know 
> 
> I don’t think I need to put any warnings on this chapter but let me know if I should 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

“I’m sorry, you want us to what?” Bobbi chokes out. Natasha sits stock still beside her. 

“She’ll be safest with you two. You’re from the same place, Romanoff, you know how to deal with her.” Fury told them, barely even glancing up from the paperwork he was filling out. Guardian paperwork. For them. 

“But we’re constantly on missions, she’s eight, what do we do with her?” Natasha questioned, helplessly. Coulson would be the better option, better yet, she could go live with Laura on the farm with Cooper and Lila. That’s where Clint took her. 

“It’s already decided. She’ll be with you.” Fury sighed, risking a glance at Daisy herself, who narrowed her eyes at him. She didn’t trust men, they’d realised that when she’d tried to attack the male agent who was in charge of her interrogation. Bobbi took over instead. 

“Our apartment only has one room.” Bobbi tried. It’s not that they didn’t want her, they just weren’t ready. They’d only been dating for two years, kids hadn’t even come into consideration yet. Especially not eight year old, traumatised Red Room assassins. One was enough. 

“You can move back into a base. The Playground is free, there’s agents stationed there. It’s protected, you’ll all be safe there.” Coulson supplied. He looked a little sad that he hadn’t been suggested, him and May had been trying for kids for a while. This would have been right up his alley. 

“There is no way we’re your best option. She already tried to stab Nat-“ 

“Exactly. They have history, you both know what will help her. You are the best agents SHIELD has to offer, you are our only option.” Fury said calmly, like he wasn’t just giving them a child. Did he even know what he was doing? She couldn’t be a parent! She was the _Black Widow_ for fucks sake. Bobbi, maybe, in time, but not her. 

“I’m going with them?” A tiny voice woke her out of that spiral. Daisy was staring right at them, her face tired and her eyes strained. She’d been awake for over 24 hours, they’d finished her deprogramming an hour ago. Natasha won’t ever get those screams out of her head. Bobbi came out of the interrogation pale and queasy and she was SHIELDs best, she’d dealt with terrorists and HYDRA and dirty politicians. Daisy was fighting to stay awake but Natasha knew it was drummed into her to stay aware of her surroundings at all times. 

“Do you want to come with us?” Bobbi asked her. Daisy looked at them nervously. Natasha knew that look. 

In the Red Room, you aren’t given choice. You are told when to wake up, what to eat, what to do, what clothes to wear, who to target, what you are supposed to be. Daisy had grown up there since she was two, she didn’t have any knowledge of choosing things for herself. Bobbi was giving her a choice and it was freaking her out. 

“Это нормально?” (Is that okay?) Daisy asked timidly. They’d broken through the tough exterior, she was a lot better at showing emotion than Natasha was. Now she was just scared and tired and sad, which wasn’t much of an improvement to be honest. 

“Конечно, звезда.” (Of course, star.) Bobbi replied, exchanging a worried look with Nat after giving Daisy a soft smile. Were they really doing this? Could they do this? She didn’t know. 

“Great, you can go to the Playground tonight. You can empty your apartment during the week and you’re off mission for the next two months, until you’re all settled. If that’s everything...” Fury said and they immediately stood to leave. Daisy jumped up and flew to their side, seeming to trust them, for the moment anyway. 

“Director.” They said simultaneously and left, leaving Coulson and Fury in his office. 

“So...we have a kid.” Bobbi breathed once the door had shut. 

“I am a Widow, not a child.” Daisy said indignantly, but there was no fire behind it. She was practically falling asleep standing up and there was still tear stains on her face. 

“You’re eight, you’re a child.” Natasha told her, grabbing Bobbi’s hand for stability as it sunk in. 

They had a _kid_. Responsibilities outside of each other, outside of themselves and SHIELD. Daisy was relying on them, trusted them to do the right thing. And she didn’t even know where to start.

“Thank you.” Daisy suddenly said softly. Bobbi and Natasha stopped to look at her. Her head was bowed and she was fidgeting with her hands again. 

“What for?” 

“You don’t have to look after me. I know I’m difficult, the trainers always said I was. I’m not sure I’m worth all this trouble but uh, thanks anyway.” Daisy looked so sad and ashamed by her confession that Natasha felt her heart break in two. 

“Hey, it’s okay маргаритка. We might not always know what we’re doing, god knows we probably never will, but we’re gonna try. Because you are worth it. I wish someone had told me at your age that I was worth more than my skills, or my body, or that I was going to be more than a Widow. Nobody did until I was a lot older, so I’m telling you now. You probably won’t believe it for a long time, but we’re gonna tell you as much as we can.  _ You are worth it, Daisy. _ ” It’s the longest sentence anyone at SHIELD has ever heard from her and it clearly shocks Bobbi, who regards her with love and surprise. Natasha honestly feels a little drained after it, but Daisy studies her with an intensity that almost knocks her over before she comes to a decision and wraps her thin arms around her waist. 

As quick as its begun, the hug is over, but Natasha is still at a loss for words. Daisy looks scared of her reaction but Nat manages a smile and Bobbi squeezes her hand. 

“C’mon, our Quinjet’s waiting.” Bobbi told them and they headed off to the landing strip. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you can’t tell I really like and miss the Playground base and that’s where they’re gonna be living! Expect to see some familiar faces next chapter!


	4. Welcome to the Playground

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> First night in their new home.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Really just churning out the chapters here. Hope yall are still enjoying this, cos I’m loving writing it. 
> 
> This is literally just fluff central, stan this family for clear skin. But there’s like tiny bits of angst throughout. 
> 
> Звезда just means star, which I think is the cutest nickname for daisy. Imma come up for one for Nat to call her, so hang tight for that.
> 
> WARNINGS: past child abuse, Red Room
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

They land at the Playground five hours later. Daisy tried to sleep in the Quinjet but the altitude freaked her out. She sat tensed up and on guard instead, tapping Баюшки-баю into her seat. Bobbi was flying and Nat was still trying to wrap her head around this whole situation. Thirty seven hours ago she was on a rooftop in Peru, waiting for some douchebag to leave a restaurant so she could ice him and take him into custody. 

He’s dead now and her and Bobbi are guardians of an eight year old. 

They keep sneaking glances at Daisy, knowing full well she notices, just to make sure she hadn’t somehow escaped the Quinjet and parachuted over Denver. 

But she’s still there when they land, though she looks ready to drop and they leave through the cargo ramp and into the Playground. Some agent is waiting for them, Agent Koenig takes one look at them and pales intensely, mumbling about ID cards and lie detector tests. 

Daisy puts up a hell of a fight when she sees the chair. Nat and Bobbi have been through this test before, hell it was based off Natasha’s skills. But after everything Daisy went through in deprogramming, Natasha isn’t surprised when she freaks out. 

“Daisy, please just do it. This isn’t like the last one, it’s just some questions.” Bobbi pleads with her, narrowly avoiding a punch to the face. Koenig worriedly looks on, obviously trying to decide if this is worth it. Protocols don’t exactly reach to children. 

“No! I don’t want to see it again. Пожалуйста!” (Please!) Daisy screams, kicking her little limbs for all her might. In any other circumstances, Natasha would be concerned, considering Daisy was Red Room, but the girl is so tired that her hits have no force. 

“Look, she’s telling the truth and you both passed, you’re good to go if it’s gonna be this much trouble. Sorry for upsetting her.” Koenig eventually says, his tone apologetic. He hands them lanyards and walks out of the room in a hurry. 

“Okay, звезда, he’s gone. You don’t have to go in the chair.” Bobbi commands and Daisy immediately ceases fighting, accepting the situation. She nearly passes out standing up but Bobbi catches her and after a nod from Natasha, turns back to Daisy. 

“Can I pick you up?” She asks and Daisy considers it for a moment before nodding tiredly. Bobbi smiles and hoists Daisy onto her hip easily because Daisy only weighs about the same as a small toddler. 

“Should we go find some bunks then?” Natasha asks, smiling softly at the scene in front of her. Daisy has tentatively laid her head on Bobbi’s shoulder, Bobbi’s are wrapped protectively around the little girl. Daisy’s eyes are drooping and she’s fisted a hand of Bobbi’s shirt, desperately trying to watch her surroundings but failing spectacularly. How has this happened so fast? Natasha isn’t too sure she cares at this point, all she really cares about is the two people in front of her. 

It scares her a bit how much she suddenly cares for Daisy. All her young life she was taught that love is for children and she firmly believed that until an idiot with a bow and arrow spared her life. Suddenly her world was expanded to Clint, then Coulson, then Laura and the kids, Maria and then Bobbi, who taught her the best. That was scary enough but now there’s Daisy, who has seen the horrors she saw, lived that same life, who understands. Somehow she already knows she’d give her life for Daisy. Somehow, she already knows she wants to live for Daisy and Bobbi. 

And _holy fuck, that’s terrifying_. But she looks at the girl in the arms of the woman she loves and somehow, it all seems okay. 

“Hey, earth to Nat? Where’d you go?” Bobbi laughs, and Natasha realises they’ve reached the Main Office of the Playground. Daisy’s fully asleep at this point, face adorably scrunched up in what Natasha is praying is a good dream, but is more like a nightmare. You didn’t grow up the way they did without nightmares. 

The door opens before she knocks. 

“ _May_?” Bobbi exclaims, before remembering the sleeping child in her arms. She winced and adjusts her volume. “What are you doing here?” 

“This is mine and Coulson’s main base, our Bus team stay are based here. I expect my husband suggested you stay here?” May told, her face not giving any hint to how she felt about Daisy. 

“Yeah...though now I understand why.” Bobbi laughed. She’d known May for years through SHIELD, taken quite a few sparring sessions with the agent and learned a lot. She attempts to transfer Daisy to the couch but the girl has a firm grip when in her sleep and won’t let go. 

“You’ll be needing some bunks then?” May questioned and Natasha turned to nod at her, she had great respect for May, mainly through the endless stories Coulson told in adoration of his wife on long missions. 

“Do you have two with an adjoining door? It’s not the best idea to leave her on her own right now.” Natasha advised. 

“You’re in luck, we have one of those. So, she’s yours?” May hedged with an quirk of her eyebrow. She typed on a tablet, probably assigning them the bunks. 

“Fury decided we were the best option.” Natasha told her and to her credit, May didn’t show too much of her hurt. Clearly, she’d wanted Daisy along with Coulson. At least the two would get to see her when they were at the Playground. Probably help out with babysitting. 

“She’s Red Room?” And Natasha flinches. It’s hard enough when it’s just her they’re talking about but now there’s Daisy. 

No, seriously, how did this happen so fast? 

“Yes. But the place was destroyed and the leaders are dead. She’s the last one.” Bobbi says, a bite to her voice. Daisy’s the last one because all the other girls died, Natasha read the report on the way over. She’s not looking forward to when Daisy realised that. 

“Okay. Your bunk is in the left wing, a bit further away from the others, figured you’d want some privacy. Have a good night, Agents.” May tells them and Bobbi and Natasha take their cue to leave. Bobbi hoists Daisy further up her waist, and Daisy mumbles something in her sleep, before pressing her face into Bobbi’s neck. 

“Oh, one more thing. Your ex husband is here, Agent Morse. And he’s been talking about your relationship, I believe the word he used was “ _hellbeast_ ”. Just in case you two run into each other.” May smirks and Bobbi smiles as they head out the door. 

“Goodnight Agent May.” Natasha calls as the door closes behind them and they head down the corridor. 

“Bobbi?” A distinctly English voice calls behind them. They turn around to see a couple, young, definitely scientists. 

“Fitzsimmons?” Bobbi says, and the couple surge forward stopping when they see the child on Bobbi’s hip. 

“Oh my god, it’s been ages! We last saw you at the Academy, right? Oh! Agent Romanoff, how lovely to meet you! And...oh! Who is this?” The young woman rambles, the owner to the English accent. The man behind her stands awkwardly, but he offers a kind smile. 

“Yeah, Jemma, Academy. And this is Daisy.” Bobbi laughs and Daisy stirs, though she doesn’t wake despite the sudden stimulation. 

“Is she yours?” The man piped up, Scottish accent. He looks confusedly from Bobbi to Daisy to Natasha, like trying to decipher how this came about. 

“Oh...uh, no. She was found on mission and she’s an asset to SHIELD, so Fury decided we were the best option.” Bobbi explained and Natasha tried to signal with her eyes that they really had to go find their bunk. They’d meet everyone tomorrow but it had been a long day. 

“Ahh, that would make sense. Oh, where are my manners? I’m Simmons, this is Fitz. We can show you to your bunk if you want?” The woman, Simmons, offered. Bobbi nodded and the five of them headed down the corridor. 

They passed a common room with a kitchen, labs, armoury, medical, the gym, before they reached the bunks. She liked the Playground, Natasha decided. It felt warm and inviting and safe. Well, as safe as an underground spy base could feel. 

“And this is you.” Simmons said brightly, directing them to the last door in the corridor. “We’re the third door if you need anything so I suppose we’ll see you in the morning. Night, Bobbi, Agent Romanoff.” 

“Night Jemma, Fitz.” Bobbi regarded before she moved to let Natasha unlock the door. 

The bunk was nicer than the ones they had at the Triskelion, where Natasha was first stationed when she joined SHIELD, but it made her miss their apartment in DC. The same bare walls and wooden floorboards were making her a little homesick, though she supposed, this was their home now. 

“Should we make up her bed before we put her in it?” Bobbi asked from the adjoining room. It was smaller, there was a single bed in here rather than a king like the other. It had its own bathroom though, wardrobe and a chest of drawers. The bed was unmade but there was sheets on the shelves in the wardrobe. 

“I don’t think she’ll care. Red Room chain you to the bed and barely give you a blanket.” Natasha deadpans and immediately regrets at Bobbi’s look of horror. 

“She’s got us now, she’s not gonna go through that again.” Bobbi promises and Natasha smiles at her insistence. Bobbi cared just as much as she did for Daisy. 

“I’ll make the bed.” Natasha said softly and she did just that. Once the sheets had been stretched over and the comforter had been covered, Bobbi went to lay Daisy down, but the young girl resisted. 

“It’s your bed, Daisy. You’re safe here.” Natasha whispered to the little girl, sliding next to Bobbi. 

“Don’t wanna be chained up.” Daisy sighed, words slurring in her tiredness. Natasha tensed but Bobbi slid an arm round her waist. 

“We’re not going to handcuff you to the bed. You’re free, Daisy. They don’t control you anymore.” Bobbi whispered to the small girl. Natasha chances stroking a hand through Daisy’s hair and the girl leaned into the touch. 

“Обещаешь?” (Promise?) Daisy whispers, opening her eyes to look at them. Those are not the eyes of a trained assassin, those are the eyes of a child thrust into a world she did not deserve. Those brown eyes have seen far too much for their lifetime and it’s breaking Natasha’s heart. 

“Promise.” They say simultaneously, looking at each other before back at Daisy, who seems to accept this. She lets go of Bobbi’s shirt and climbs off her lap and into the bed. She seems a little confused lying there, half heartedly raising her left arm to the headboard before remembering and pulling it back down. 

“I don’t know if you still want them, but we can go get you some toys tomorrow? Or books or whatever.” Bobbi offers and Daisy smiles a little. 

“Maria had a stuffed elephant she used to hide in her pillow. She said her dad gave her it before he sent her to the Red Room. One of the guards caught her with it one night though and Madame made me-“ Daisy ceases talking and looks away guiltily. “I didn’t want to...” 

“We know Daisy, it’s okay. It wasn’t your fault.” Natasha tells her and Daisy shakes her head before laying it on her pillow. 

“Can we get something like that tomorrow? I never had one before.” She asks and Bobbi smiles like she would give this girl the world if she asked. Inwardly, Natasha probably would too, but she won’t show that. 

“Only if you go back to sleep now, звезда.” Bobbi tells her and Daisy giggles before she diligently closes her eyes and falls right back to sleep. They watch her for a minute, both still trying to work out how they got here. Tucking in this little assassin they have somehow adopted. 

“Спокойной ночи, Дейзи.” (Goodnight, Daisy.) Natasha whispers as they leave the room and go back into theirs, leaving the connecting door open. 

“How did we get here, Bobbi? How are we...parents?” Natasha breathes once they’ve reached their bed. She misses their black and red sheets at the apartment but they’ll probably get them during the week. 

“You know, I’m still not entirely sure. But what I do know is that we’ve both fallen in love with that little girl and we’re gonna do our best. We’re scared as hell, and we’re gonna screw up. But you already told her, we’re gonna be there for her. You in?” And it’s the same sentence that made her fall in love with Bobbi. Three years ago, on a mission in Atlanta, they’d been teamed up to take down some crime ring and Bobbi asked her to steal a motorbike and go see some movie at the end of the mission. 

And here they were. 

“Вместе?” (Together?) Natasha asked. 

“Together.” 


	5. Trust

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first full day together for the Romanoff-Morse trio.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to everyone who answered when I asked about Daisy’s powers, they’re introduced in this chapter after some family fluff and a bit of angst. 
> 
> WARNINGS: panic attacks, past child abuse, threatening bodily harm, child soldiers, traumatic upbringings 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

The next day is a bit of a mixed bag. On the one hand, there’s all these cute little moments Natasha will probably file into her memory bank forever, like when Daisy fell in love with a freaking stuffed spider, much to Bobbi’s amusement, or when she let Natasha braid her hair into two neat french braids, giggling when Natasha tickled her neck. 

But then there’s the other side. Like when some guy bumped into Daisy in the dairy aisle and she pulled a knife on him and wouldn’t let go for five minutes. Or when she scaled the shelves because “Madame always said you had a better vantage point form above”. 

“At least her and Clint will get along.” Bobbi said dryly, trying to ignore the fact that the eight year old was free running along the top shelf. 

Yeah, they weren’t allowed in that Target after that. 

But Natasha noticed other things as well. The way Daisy would continually watch her exits, analyse the people around her to work out if they’re threats or not, how she studied the butter knife before throwing to it into the wall. It was like looking into a mirror from ten years ago, this was what she was like when she first joined SHIELD. The only problem was, she had been twenty three, Daisy was eight. 

But other than an almost panic attack when they asked her what her favourite food was, considering she didn’t have one, their trip went okay. Daisy had clothes in her own size, including an adorable leather jacket that Bobbi insisted she had to have if she wanted to be like Natasha, and discovered her favourite colour was purple. She also had books in Russian, Polish, French, Mandarin and English, mainly vocabulary or children’s books but they’d convinced her to get Harry Potter. 

“You don’t have to get me all this stuff...” Daisy began when she saw the amount of stuff in the cart. 

“SHIELD has a duty of care for you now, you need this stuff.” Bobbi reasoned but Daisy didn’t look convinced. Bobbi sighed and tried again. “Nat needed all this stuff too when she came to SHIELD. I think she was even more stubborn than you, but she accepted it eventually.” 

“She didn’t deserve what happened to her.” Daisy said softly and Bobbi looked at her in surprise. 

“Neither did you.” 

“Madame said I did. She said that I was created to be a weapon and she was making me one. I was broken and she fixed me.” Daisy sighed, lowering her head from Bobbi’s gaze and then she ran off when she spotted the knives only to be intercepted by Natasha. 

“Nice try, паучок, come on, let’s go back.” 

* * *

“You hacked NASA?!” Natasha cried, when she finds the tablet. 

They’ve been having a nice night, they ate with the science couple Fitzsimmons and May, who particularly enjoyed conversing in Mandarin with Daisy. Fitz still seems confused with the girl, but she mostly ignores him, apart from to threaten him with bodily harm because he startled her at the table. They’re really gonna need to talk to her about table manners. 

“Jemma said she liked the stars and I told her I could show her them!” Daisy defended, but she looked terrified. 

“You didn’t have to hack NASA!” Natasha told her and Daisy looks away guiltily before standing up and turning around to face her back toward Natasha. 

“What are you doing?” 

“Aren’t you going to punish me?” Daisy says in a small voice. 

Oh. Natasha had forgotten this part. The constant fear of a whip on your back or withheld meals or endless hours of training. Daisy was practically vibrating in fear, tensing her back for what she thinks is the inevitable. Natasha wants to throw up. 

“I’m not....I’m not going to punish you Daisy.” She breathed eventually but Daisy stays rooted to her spot. 

“But I did something bad. The trainers always punished us when we did something bad, why aren’t you hitting me? You’re supposed to hit me!” For all her training, Daisy is still just an eight year old child and this is her logic. She learned early that when she did something bad she was punished harshly, no matter how small the thing she did was. Natasha can see that she doesn’t understand what she’s saying, it took her nearly three years to stop flinching when Fury raised his voice in her vicinity or when Coulson reprimanded her. But right now, this is all Daisy knows. 

“Because it’s wrong, the way they taught us was wrong. What you did was wrong but I’m not going to hit you because of it.” Natasha explained, gently turning Daisy around to face her. Daisy’s face is covered in tears and she’s still shaking. 

“That...That doesn’t make sense.” Daisy stuttered. 

“I know but it will one day.” 

“I don’t understand this world. People say things that don’t make sense. They say I’m too young to know how to kill a man but Madame said I was too old to use the easy versions when I was four. Why doesn’t it make sense, Natasha? Am I a bad person?” 

“No.” Nat stops to collect her thoughts before she answers. “You are not a bad person because you’ve done bad things. It doesn’t make sense because it’s not what you’ve been taught. We grew up to be weapons, but that is not what we are. You’re a child, Daisy, you’re a little girl who has been hurt and exploited and I’m so sorry that happened. But I promise you, I won’t let it happen again. We will help you make sense of this world because all you really need is a little help. That’s how I got here. Okay?” 

Daisy nods solemnly and throws her arms around Natasha again, still sobbing but not quite as shaky as before. Natasha holds her tightly and mouths to Bobbi, “tell you later” when the blonde enters the room. 

“Please don’t ever hack NASA again, though I’m still not sure how you did that, the paperwork is very extensive if you get caught.” Natasha warned and Daisy laughs into her shoulder. 

“Have you ever seen a Disney movie, звезда?” Bobbi asks and Daisy extracts herself from Natasha before shaking her head. 

“They’re not exactly popular in Russian training facilities.” Natasha deadpans and Bobbi shakes her head fondly. 

“Well, we’ve got Mulan, Tangled, Cinderella or Tarzan, which one do you wanna watch?” Bobbi asked. 

“May I ask why there are kids movies in an elite spy base?” Natasha teased and Bobbi smiled. 

“A certain ex-husband of mine said that they used them to relax after hard missions. Apparently Mack knows every word of The Lion King.” She explains and Daisy looks at the covers of the DVDs curiously. 

“Can we watch this one?” She holds up the cover of Tangled nervously. 

“Hey, she looks like you, babe.” Natasha teases Bobbi when she sees the blonde princess on the cover. 

“Yes, thank you Merida.” Bobbi giggles as she sets up the DVD player. 

Daisy sits enraptured the entire time, which doesn’t surprise them, Natasha was the exact same. 

“Did you enjoy the movie?” Bobbi asks the small girl. 

“Yeah! Her powers were really cool, a lot cooler than mine-“ 

They actually do a double take when they realise what Daisy has said. Daisy freezes and then everything happens all at once. 

The room around them starts shaking and at first they suspect an earthquake until they realise it’s shaking  _ in time with Daisy. _ The girl realises and her eyes go wide before she clenched her fists and squeezes her eyes tightly. The intense quake stops and dark bruises form on Daisy’s pale arms. The girl backs away in fear, settling in a corner and closing her eyes. 

“What...just happened?” Bobbi chokes out and Daisy tightens her hold on herself. 

“I’m sorry. I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry, I’m sorry!” She sobs, her arms growing darker and darker as the bruises spread. 

Natasha recovers a lot faster than Bobbi and snaps to attention, waking over to Daisy and dropping to her level. 

“It’s okay, you’re okay. We can help you, it’s alright паучок, you’re safe.” She whispers, laying a hand on Daisy’s shoulder. The girl flinched but accepts the contact and looks up at Natasha, than at Bobbi. 

“Обещаешь?” (Promise.) She whispers and Bobbi comes over to join them. 

“We swear, звезда.” Bobbi promises and Daisy surprises them by hugging Bobbi first, then Natasha. 

“Can we watch Mulan now?” She asks and the two spies laugh. 

“Anything you want.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Паучок means little spider.


	6. A Week Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now, an interlude from Bobbi Morse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! So this is just as chapter detailing some stuff that happened in their first week and some Hunter content where he is his normal grumpy self. 
> 
> This is written in Bobbi’s narrative because I was bored and that sounded fun. 
> 
> WARNINGS: Red Room, past child abuse, child soldiers, threats of violence
> 
> Детка means baby 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

“So, how’s your little assassin?” Hunter asked nonchalantly and Bobbi rolled her eyes. 

“Nat’s great, why do you ask?” She replied, shooting a smirk in his direction at his annoyed face. 

“You know that’s not what I meant.” He replied gruffly, and of course she did, she just liked to piss him off. 

“Daisy’s fine, she’s training with Nat in the gym. Working on control.” Bobbi smiled at the thought. Nat was...hard to read. Bobbi was the best SHIELD had to offer when it came to analysis, especially on harder people, but Nat was a whole other ball game, and she didn’t trust easily, if at all. It took them a year before she talked about her childhood and the KGB, sixteen months before she cried in front of her, eighteen when she told her she loved her back. But Bobbi was willing to wait, Nat was worth it. 

But she sees her with Daisy and it makes her heart swell. The two assassins were mirrors, two sides of the same coin. Daisy trusts Nat a lot more than her, and that kinda hurts, but she knows that those kind of things are not simple or easy, Daisy and Nat share a bond through their trauma from the Red Room, they can understand each other. 

Or maybe that’s all bullshit because five seconds later Daisy comes barrelling into her with a smile on her face and her arms still bandaged and makes grabby motions requesting to be lifted. Which Bobbi graciously grants with a laugh. 

“Have fun, звезда?” The little girl smiles wider and nods her head, braids swinging wildly. 

“I pushed a crate all the way to the other side of the room! And Natasha said I can start training again tomorrow, but not as much as I used to.” They’d decided to start Daisy off small with training her powers. She had a some control, considering she’d managed to hide them for three days, but it wasn’t the best. 

The story they’d eventually gotten out of her made Bobbi’s stomach roll. The leaders in the Red Room had found out Daisy’s heritage, she was an Inhuman, who were a long line of people with powers. SHIELD had dealt with them to varying levels of success, but they never turned them into weapons. Not like the Red Room wanted to. Daisy said she was five when they put her through the “mist”, Terrigenesis, in proper terms, and they’d used power dampeners mostly instead of teaching her proper control. The most she could do currently was manipulate the vibrations in the air to push objects around or push herself off the ground or cause earthquakes, which happened when she was frightened or panicked or angry. 

They’d consulted some of the Inhumans they had contact with to help Daisy and a week later the girl was mastering control. She was a fast learner and more than willing to help herself learn to control her powers to prevent further bruising, which turned out to be micro-fractures. Daisy had been taught to turn her powers inward when she couldn’t control them and the trainers couldn’t get the power dampeners on. 

Bobbi’s pretty sure she’ll never forget Daisy’s confused face when they went to wrap her arms until Nat explained that the Red Room weren’t massive on healthcare unless it was urgent and you were promising. 

The more she hears about the Red Room, the more she wants to stab the Russian bastards with her batons until she remembers they’ve already been taken care of. 

“You’re training her?” Unfortunately, Hunter’s still here and is completely unaware of social cues. Daisy froze at his voice, having definitely noticed him, (because she was a half trained spy after all) but not having expected him to speak. 

“Technically, she already started training years ago and that was a lot worse than letting her spar with the lower level agents or practice her existing skills.” Bobbi said, an edge to her voice suggesting he shut up. Daisy had almost cried with relief when they said she was allowed to keep training, albeit at a much safer pace. It was all she knew for years, it made sense that she needed that familiar routine when she was thrust into a world she didn’t understand. 

Daisy had adapted quite well to life at SHIELD, but she still was a little feral sometimes. She ate dinner on the counter like a caged animal two nights ago because someone had made a joke that it would disappear if she ate slower and Daisy didn’t really understand jokes. In the middle of the week she refused to speak English completely, which was fine for Nat and Bobbi, considering they spoke the multitude of languages Daisy did, but it was a nightmare for everyone else on base, who had grown rather fond of the girl. Fitzsimmons and May took a particular shine to the girl, with May teaching her breathing techniques to help with her powers and Fitzsimmons imparting random science facts into the child who soaked it up like a sponge and happily repeated them in deferent languages to her stuffed spider at meal times or bed time. The spider had been named Hermione, because Daisy had devoured the Harry Potter series and proclaimed that the spider was the “brightest witch she knew”, which was just the most adorable thing to hear from an eight year old spy. 

“I just don’t think it’s right, I mean she’s a kid, and a scary one at that-“ Hunter was cut off as a knife sailed past his face and skimmed his ear, causing it to bleed. Bobbi raised an eyebrow and turned her head to Daisy, who was staring defiantly at Hunter and pulling another knife out of her waistband. 

“Не будь мудаком.” (Don’t be an asshole.) Daisy sneered and Bobbi laughed before gently easing the throwing knife out of the young assassins hand. 

“What have we said about throwing knives at people, звезда?” 

“That I’m not to do it unless it’s an emergency.” Daisy sighed and turned her head away from Bobbi so Bobbi wouldn’t see her apprehension after doing something wrong. It was still ingrained in her that doing something wrong meant immediate violent punishment, so Bobbi tilted her chin back to face her. 

“You’re not in trouble, детка, Hunter was being an asshole and he’s going to apologise after you apologise for throwing a knife at him, but you’re not in trouble.” Bobbi assured her and Daisy relaxed a little before requesting to be put down. 

“Sorry I threw a knife at you and hurt your ear.” Daisy said, standing a safe distance away from Hunter, an unconscious method of keeping herself safe that broke Bobbi’s heart. Daisy was skittish around all of them, save her and Nat, but particularly Hunter and Fitz. She hadn’t met Mack yet but Bobbi was expecting it to be mostly the same.

“Do I really need to apologise to the kid?” Hunter moaned and Bobbi glared at him. 

“Apologise or I’ll get Daisy to use you as target practice next time she’s training with her knives. She almost never misses. Would you like a throwing knife in your nuts?” 

“Sorry, kid, I didn’t mean to hurt your feelings.” Hunter said. Daisy nodded and turned back to Bobbi. 

“Can I go for a run around the hangar now?” Another thing they learned about Daisy was that she loved running. Nat explained that in the Red Room, the girls are allowed to pick an outlet of their choice. Ballet was mandatory but Nat chose to take additional lessons because she wanted to be in the Bolshoi one day but not all girls chose that. Daisy had taken up track, or just long distance running, mainly because it got her outside but also because she could use her powers in small bursts to fly just the tiniest amount. If the origin wasn’t so harrowing, the hobby would have been cute. 

“Yeah, go ahead. Watch out for planes though, or cars. Come back if there’s a lot going on.” Growing up in a Russian facility in the middle of fuck knows where Stalingrad meant that Daisy didn’t have the best road safety skills considering the only time she saw the outside world was missions or running in the woods. 

“She’s really something.” Hunter said when Daisy had left and Bobbi smiled. 

“Yeah, she is.” 


	7. Fear

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Every kid had a runaway attempt, unfortunately Daisy is not most kids.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is stupidly long so I’m sorry? Idk maybe yall will enjoy that lol 
> 
> This has a potentially triggering story in the middle form Nat who explains a FUBAR mission when she started SHIELD. 
> 
> WARNINGS: past child abuse, brainwashing, Red Room, needles, violence, mental breaks(kinda) 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

Really, they should have expected it. Most kids were scared of needles and even though Daisy was not a normal kid whatsoever, it made sense that she’d have some smaller, more normal fears. 

(More normal being bugs or needles or the monster under the bed, not dead friends or raised voices or deprogramming, which had really done a number on the girl’s psyche.) 

But it was still a shock when Daisy ran. 

Simmons had brought up that Daisy might need shots and Natasha already had a sense of dread in her stomach at the way Daisy tensed. Needles were not a good thing in the Red Room. It meant experiment steroids or the guards trying to get hooked on something or the looming graduation ceremony. Natasha hadn’t gone near medical for her first two years at SHIELD for fear of injections there, much to Coulson’s anguish. 

Their first indication of the girl’s fear should have been the way the water in the glass on the table trembled when Simmons happily explained how Daisy was probably missing necessary vaccinations given her “upbringing”, but because they were trying to wrap their heads around her words, no one saw the glass wobble precariously or Daisy hastily pick it up. 

The second should have been the way Daisy retreated after Simmons’ speech, latching back into the shell she’d been three weeks ago. She was withdrawn and quiet the whole day, clenching her fists and refusing to even look at Hermione, which was confusing because she’d been practically attached to the thing. When they check in on her after she’s fell asleep, Natasha’s stomach sinks lower when she sees Daisy’s wrist tied to the headboard. They untie her and vow to talk about it in the morning. 

But in the morning, Daisy’s not in her bed. Her backpack is gone. And a look through the camera feeds show that the footage was deleted from 3AM to 5AM because Daisy’s an even better hacker than fighter. 

Natasha tries not to panic because she’s the fucking Black Widow and she does not panic, Daisy couldn’t have gotten that far, she’s eight and it’s mostly woodland above the Playground, chances are she’s hiding in a tree. But a knot of anxiety is curling in her stomach at the fact that she didn’t even  _ hear  _ Daisy slip out last night, let alone leave the base. She can tell Bobbi’s stressed as well, though like her she hides it well, and gives her hand a gentle squeeze. 

They’d find her. 

* * *

Five hours later, they do. She’d made it to the road at the edge of the forest and hid in an abandoned truck there. She’s curled into the footwell, shaking from the cold, considering it’s October and the Playground is near Canada, and sobbing for all she’s worth. Natasha’s heart breaks. 

“Привет, паук, можно подойти поближе?” (Hey, spider, can we come closer?) Natasha asked softly and Daisy spring to attention, hitting her head on the steering wheel as she rose. The car immediately started shaking and Natasha signalled to Bobbi to go round the other side as she crouched to Daisy’s level. 

“Hey, you’re okay, everything’s going to be fine I just need you to breathe okay? In for four, out for four, remember?” Natasha whispered to the girl who looked at her with terrified eyes that split her soul in half. How had this happened and why didn’t she see it? She  _ knew  _ what needles meant in the Red Room, how could she be naive enough to believe that Daisy would be okay with them? 

“Считай с нами, звезда, хорошо?” (Count with us, star, okay?) Bobbi said from Daisy’s other side and the girl managed a nod and placed her shaking hands on the quaking floor of the truck. Both Natasha and Bobbi repeated their counts of four, in Russian mostly because Daisy was most responsive to the language when she was panicked, just like Natasha. They had completed the exercise ten times by the time Daisy managed to breathe normally and stop the shaking truck. 

“What happened, Daisy?” Natasha asked, when Daisy had calmed down. 

“I had a nightmare about the needles. Madame said the scientists wanted to try stuff on me to make me better, and there was so many needles. It felt like they were all over my skin when I woke up and Jemma said she wanted to give me more needles. I didn’t mean to run so far, I’m sorry.” Daisy whimpered and fell into Natasha’s arms, letting the two spies cover her. She was cold as ice, scrapes and bruises covered her bare arms considering she’d run through the woods in her pj’s. 

“It’s okay, Паучок, we were just worried about you. You could have talked to us instead of running away.” Natasha said, a little guiltily because she’d done her own amount of running in her first years at SHIELD. Her and Clint practically lived in the vents on base, outrunning Coulson or Maria or Fury. But eventually, she learned that it was a lot healthier to talk about her issues. It would also keep her from tearing someone’s head off which was a massive bonus. 

“I didn’t want to bother you.” Daisy mumbled into her shoulder and that was like someone had taken a knife and stabbed her in the gut. 

“You are  _ never  _ bothering us, Daisy, even with stuff like this. _Especially_ with stuff like this. We won’t judge you for being afraid of something.” Natasha told her firmly but Daisy shook her head. 

“I’m not supposed to be afraid of things. I’m not supposed to break.” The girl whispered and Natasha had to push down the little toxic voice in her head that screamed those exact same words from time to time. It is the first lesson taught in the Red Room. 

_Widows are marble. They do not break_. 

She’s carried that with her since she was seven years old. She’s adapted and changed herself to be better, to  be  marble. She’s fought and she’s bled and she’s killed for an idea that shouldn’t have existed in the first place, because Madame was  _wrong_.  She’s human, flesh and bone and blood. She’s living and breathing and _she is not fucking_ _marble_. She is not a weapon. 

And neither is Daisy. But she doesn’t know that yet. 

“Can I tell you a story?” She says quietly and both Bobbi and Daisy give her confused looks. But Daisy tearfully nods and unwraps her arms from Natasha, sliding back into Bobbi, still aching for touch. Natasha slides into the truck and closes the door, takes a deep breath and begins. 

“It was a mission gone FUBAR, my second year in SHIELD. Clint was hit badly and the KGB cell we were taking done was winning. It was the first mission I’d done in Russia since I’d left. One of the members must have recognised me. He started saying all the stuff they told us in the Red Room, all the things to make us break. I was stuck, listening to the poison they fed us in there, knowing it was wrong but I couldn’t move. He reminded me of all the girls I’d killed, all the marks, all the hits, every stain of red in my ledger. He was trying to bring me back in to the KGB, trying to break me enough that I would go back, but I just stared. He eventually stopped and I stood there for thirty seconds before something in me  _ snapped _ and I went postal. I tore them to shreds, every single one of them. Coulson found us hours later as I was just sitting there, surrounded by the bodies and I cried. I broke and I cried and I screamed and I beat the ground. And he let me. When I was finished, he wrapped me up and took me back to Clint’s, we were off mission for four months. I broke, Daisy, and it was okay.” 

They’re all crying by the end of her story and Bobbi is looking at her with wide eyes because she never told her this. She’d never told anyone and the mission was blacklisted in the archives. This was more than red in her ledger, this was black and deep and aching and raw, and it hurt. But it didn’t hurt because it was wrong, it hurt because after she felt cleaner, like she could breathe easily. In the Red Room, your biggest fear is breaking, of not being marble or stone and rock. But out here, in the real world, breaking was the best thing she’d ever done. 

“We’ve both still got red in our ledgers, Talia.” Daisy said, still sobbing and shaking but she looked like she was understanding this world a lot more. 

“But that’s not what defines us, Daisy. We’re not just Widows, we’re living people.” Natasha told her. 

“I don’t want to be marble anymore.” Daisy breathed, looking from Natasha to Bobbi, searching for acceptance. Bobbi nodded and gave her a watery smile, Natasha placed a hand on her ankle. 

“You’ll never be marble again.” She told the little girl who smiled for the first time in hours. 

“Do you want to go back now, детка? It’s cold out here.” Bobbi said and Daisy nodded, silently requesting to be carried back. 

“Are the others mad at me?” She asked in a small voice when they’d almost reached the base. 

“Why would they be?” Bobbi asked. 

“I left without permission and I hacked the cameras. The guards got mad at me when I tried to run away the first few times. Madame put me in isolation for a week.” Daisy said, refusing to meet their eyes. Natasha knew that look, isolation was a horrific part of the Red Room. A five by five box with standing or sitting room only, no lights, no windows, no food, no interaction. You were lucky if you were given water. The fact that Daisy survived a week in there was a miracle. 

“They were worried but they’re not mad, like us. You don’t have to worry.” Bobbi reassured her and Daisy looked tense but accepted the words. 

“I think Hermione missed you.” Natasha said and Daisy smiled. 

“I missed her too.” She giggled, gripping tighter to Bobbi when they entered the Playground. 

“Welcome home, звезда.”


	8. Change

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A nightmare encourages Daisy to take a big step.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so thank you to everyone who had been reading and liking this! It genuinely makes me so happy to see that people are enjoying this 
> 
> This chapter is kind of a lot, there’s nightmares and breakdowns and a name change (surprise, daisy isn’t staying daisy) I love the name daisy and I understand why she changed it in AoS but since she’s already been daisy, it made sense in my head for her to want a change, like Nat did 
> 
> WARNINGS: Red room, child soldiers, description of kids being forced to commit murder, past child abuse, nightmares, panic attack
> 
> Enjoy! And let me know your thoughts on the change! -bex xx

It is the middle of the night a few days later and Natasha is awakened by the sudden movement in her bunk. It’s dark and all she can really make out are shapes, but there’s no light coming from the hallway and the figure is small, so it can only be one person. Daisy. 

Daisy’s crying and standing awkwardly next to their bed. Bobbi stirs but rolls over and goes back to sleep, whilst Natasha sits up. 

“What’s wrong, паук?” (Spider.) She whispers to the small girl who lets out a whimper and comes to the edge of the bed. 

“You said I don’t have to be marble anymore.” Daisy whispered, voice wavering with her tears. Natasha can sense this is going to be a hard conversation and flips the lamp on, wakening Bobbi who sees Daisy and immediately relaxes.

“I did and it’s true. Why is it bothering you?” 

“Back at home base,” God it twisted her stomach that Daisy still called it that. “Madame said that we had to be strong, if you let nightmares upset you, you weren’t strong, you were weak and broken and nothing. But you said I don’t have to be that way anymore.” Daisy said and Natasha can remember this near exact conversation she’d had with Clint, then Coulson, then Bobbi. The Red Room taught you to internalise that kind of pain, it was your fault after all, to mine it and turn it to stone, just like you. Widows did not break over stupid nightmares, Widows did not break over anything. 

That’s the biggest lie she was ever told. 

“Did you have a nightmare, звезда?” Bobbi asked and Daisy nodded pitifully. Bobbi smiled sadly, her brain computing a lot faster than Natasha’s, who was still trying to work out what Daisy had meant. She pulled back the covers and nodded at Daisy to get in the middle of the bed. The girl stared at them for a second and the floor shook precariously, before it stilled and she nodded and got in the bed, curling instinctively into a ball. 

“Do you want to tell us about it?” Natasha eventually prompted. Daisy shook her head, then reconsidered and nodded. 

“They brought in this man one time, Madame said he had defected from the KGB, blindfolded. We were in ballet class, but they brought him in to the studio. There was only eight of us left, it was last year. They lined us up and handed all of us a gun, it was heavy. Heavier than the practice ones, there was real bullets not rubber. Madame said that the ones who could shoot him would live. Five of us lived. They made us clean up the blood and the body from the studio floor and then go back to training. Sometimes...I can still feel the blood on my hands or the gun or the bleach on the floor. And I didn’t want to. _I didn’t want to. I don’t want to!”_

Daisy vaulted out of the bed and into the bathroom, shutting the door with a thud. They could hear her screaming and the sound of the taps being blasted at full power. Every language Daisy knew was spoken but it was always the same words. 

_ I’m sorry. I didn’t want to. It’s my fault.  _

The two women stared at the closed door and then at each other, at a complete loss of what to do. When Natasha had defected, it had taken her a long time to accept that things weren’t her fault and that most of the kills weren’t her fault. At twenty-three, she could accept that. She had missions where she could do good in the world and pour some white into her ledger, counteracting the red. Over time, the messages drilled into her head by the Red Room faded a little, she knew how to control it. 

But Daisy was eight years old. Daisy was eight and frightened and scarred and screaming herself hoarse in Russian in the bathroom. Daisy had seen and done things no adult, let alone small children should have, and she didn’t know how to deal with it. 

After a minute or two, they seemed to collect themselves and ran to the bathroom, easily kicking in the locked door. Daisy was hunched over the sink, furiously scrubbing her hands and sobbing with an intensity that was making the room rattle. The shampoo and conditioner bottles had fallen off the shelf, the toothbrush holder was cracked in half. But Daisy couldn’t seem to stop. 

It was Natasha who approached her first. She placed two firm hands on the traumatised girl’s shoulders and turned her around, feeling the shaking come to a stop as she sank to Daisy’s eye level. Bobbi turned the taps off and gently wrung a towel on Daisy’s hands, which had begun to crack with the force of her nails digging in to wash invisible blood. 

“I...I...didn’t-“ Daisy couldn’tquite form the words because she was still intensely sobbingand her voice was hoarse and sore from the amount of screaming she’d just done. 

“We know, Daisy. It wasn’t your fault.” Natasha told her and the little girl stared hard at her, trying to find the lie in her green eyes but the words were true. It wasn’t Daisy’s fault, same as it hadn’t been Natasha’s. They had been children, used for weapons to fight a war they shouldn’t have been in. 

“I don’t think I wanna be Daisy anymore.” Daisy whispered and if threw Bobbi off, but Natasha understood. When she’d been brought into SHIELD and had stayed with Clint after deprogramming, once her mind had reset and she started to understand the person she wanted to be, not what the Red Room had made her, she didn’t want to be Natalia Romanova. 

Natalia was a killer, a weapon in the hands of people who shouldn’t, moulded and perfected and loyal to the wrong things. She was marble, stone, cement and brick. Natalia was the Black Widow, that’s  _ all  _ she was. 

Natasha Romanoff was all of those things, but more. Natasha was Auntie Nat to Cooper and Lila, Agent Romanoff to SHIELD, girlfriend to Bobbi Morse. Natasha could start over, Natalia could not. Natalia had no one, Natasha had Bobbi and Clint and Laura and the kids and Coulson and Maria and May and Fury and now, Daisy.

“You don’t have to be. You can change if you want.” Natasha told her and Daisy visibly relaxed. Her hands shook and she clumsily fell into Natasha, butting her head into Bobbi’s hand for her to join the hug because the girl strained for human contact after being denied it for so long. 

“You know, if it counts, I changed my name too when I was growing up. Bobbi isn’t my real name, it’s Barbara.” Bobbi grimaced and Natasha laughed although she knew. Daisy held her head up to give her a look of disgust. 

“That’s an awful name.” She said and Bobbi laughed, extricating Daisy from Natasha and placing her on her hip. The three went back into the bedroom and Daisy tensed. 

“You can sleep in with us if you want to.” Natasha said from behind her because she sensed that was what Daisy had wanted in the first place before everything happened. 

Daisy nodded and Bobbi gently placed her on the bed, the two spies climbing in after her. The little girl sat up very quickly and fled the room again, making Bobbi and Natasha look at each other in fear of what else could happen, but Daisy came running back with Hermione and the Captain America blanket Coulson had very proudly given the young assassin. 

“You good now, детка?” Bobbi asked and Daisy gave them her first smile of the night. “Have you decided on your new name?” 

Daisy nodded very seriously and took a deep breath before announcing: 

“Skye. I want to be called Skye.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is gonna be Nat and Bobbi establishing parenthood of their baby assassin and family fluff


	9. Parents?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clint asks Skye a hard question.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> WARNINGS: red room, past child abuse, child soldiers 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

Skye drops silently from the ceiling vents onto their bed the night before they’re due to go back to SHIELD. Nat’s got a mission brief at nine, undercover apparently, she’s dreading it. Bobbi’s got a meeting with Maria to report on Skye’s progress, she’ll be back on mission next week. Clint’s been babysitting Skye for the night and apparently he’s been teaching the young girl his main form of transport, the vents. 

“Good time, паук?” Natasha asks and Skye smiles, then gives an uncertain shrug. 

“Uncle Clint asked me a weird question.” Barton had professed himself as “Uncle Clint” as soon as he properly met Skye. The girl had been confused but accepted it. 

“What did he ask?” Bobbi asked and Skye looked at them with worry. The name change had brought her out of her shell a little, she was a lot more confident around the other team members on the base, though she was still wary around Hunter and Fitz. They’d just accepted that she’d probably never get over it and took her tentative friendship as she gave it. 

Strangely enough, Skye was most comfortable with Mack, of all men. He was great with her, they’d play video games and he’d happily let her tinker with some of the older parts of his motorbike, teaching her to weld and change oil and whatnot. Skye would comfortably let him put her on his shoulders, something she wouldn’t even let Coulson do, and he’d let her practice her harder throws on him, and considering he was a small tank, she’d never tip him. 

Bobbi had asked why Skye was fine with Mack and the young assassin had looked at her strangely before answering. 

“He’s not like the trainers. They all looked like Fitz or Hunter or Coulson. Mack doesn’t.” It made sense then. Skye wasn’t afraid of Mack because he wasn’t what she was used to, Fitz and Hunter had the same kind of brooding, pissed off air about them that the trainers in the Red Room had, Mack didn’t. 

Neither did Clint apparently because Skye agreed to spend a couple of hours with him alone so Nat and Bobbi could get some time to theirselves. 

“He asked if I thought of you two as parents.” Skye mumbled and Nat froze beside her. Bobbi drew in an audible breath as she waited for Nat’s reaction. She’d honestly be fine with Skye thinking of her as a parent, in truth she’d come to love the little assassin just like she loved Nat. But she wasn’t sure how Nat would react. It had taken them years to get her to accept that love wasn’t just for children. 

“I mean you don’t have to be! Obviously, I don’t need parents. My own ones left me at the orphanage then the Red Room took me, so I don’t really know what having themis like anyway. Uh, I’ll go to bed now. Sorry I said anything...” Skye took their silence as a dismissal, that they didn’t want her. All she’d known all her life was rejection, loss and coldness. She was disappointed of course, but she wasn’t surprised. 

“No, Skye, wait...” Nat was the one that stopped her and Skye stilled her movements, cocking her head at the red head. 

“Do you want us to be your parents? Or guardians or whatever?” Bobbi got the ball rolling because Nat had clamped her jaw shut again. 

“You don’t have to...” Skye said softly, ducking her head and running her fingers along the waves in the comforter. 

“But do  _ you _ want us to be?” Nat seemed to have found her voice again and Skye searched their faces for a minute. The girl was a mastermind at reading people, even better than Bobbi. She could work out what they were trying to say just by facial movements, what they were hiding by body language and how she could manipulate them just by their eyes, which is how she got Hunter to let her practice her punches. He still had bruises, but Bobbi found it hilarious and told him it was payback for the months he’d spent telling people she was a “hell beast”. 

“I...uh...гавно.”(Shit.) Skye cursed and Bobbi cocked her head. 

“Language.” 

“Sorry. Uh, do I have to decide right now?” Skye said eventually, looking like she really wanted to escape this conversation. To be fair, she’d only known them for two months and they were still trying to sort through the six years of “training” that was more abuse than anything else. Skye could barely choose what she wanted for breakfast, never mind how she felt about them becoming her parents. 

“Of course not. Take as long as you need, we’ll always be there to help.” Nat promised and Skye nodded. 

“Uh, can I...can I have a story before I go to bed?” It was something they’d started to help change her “bedtime routine” about a month ago, when the girl had been too scared to sleep with her left wrist locked to the bed frame. She still woke up from nightmares and screamed when her arm wasn’t handcuffed to a bed in Russia, the room shaking in tandem with the traumatised child. So they’d implemented the “bedtime story”, where they’d talk about old missions or stuff from the Academy or stories from Bobbi’s childhood which always interested both Skye and Nat, given they’d never had that sort of childhood. The way they’d stare at her with wide eyes and confusion when she told them about Christmas pancakes and family trips to the beach in Florida broke her goddamn heart. 

“Of course, звезда, what would you like tonight?” Bobbi picked up Skye, who still only weighed about as much as a small four year old, carrying her through to the adjoining bunk. Coulson had somehow managed to get a stuffed mockingbird toy which Skye had delighted in, and slept with them both every night. Clint had found it hilarious when she proudly presented Hermione and Anastasia, having watched the movie the week before and loving the fact that she knew some of the history around the film. She’d also said it made her said to think of the Anastasia in the Red Room, so she called the bird Ana for short. 

“I wanna hear about when Tasha danced in the Bolshoi.” She said tiredly, Clint had taken her for a run above the Playground then taught her how to travel the vents much to Coulson’s dismay. 

“Okay, паук, but you’re going to sleep straight after. Big day tomorrow.” Nat said softly, sitting down on the side of Skye’s bed. 

“Okay. Can you start the story now?” 

“Of course,” Nat laughed and launched into the story of dancing in the Bolshoi, weaving a tale of pointe shoes and Black Swan but removing the parts where she was shot at by defectors of the KGB or had to stab one of the male dancers. Skye wouldn’t have been afraid but the girl was dealing with her own guilt, Nat didn’t want to add to it. 

Skye fell asleep halfway through the story and Nat and Bobbi went back to bed, Nat closer to the door, curling into Bobbi like a koala. It was adorable. 

“How do you feel about what Skye said?” Bobbi asked her and Nat looked at her with painful eyes. 

“I want to be there for her. I want to be there when she has nightmares or decides to change her name again or when she becomes SHIELD’s best agent. I want to be what I didn’t have, but Bobbi, I’m the  _Black Widow_.  I don’t how to do any of that and anyway, why would she want me? You, I can understand, you’re amazing with her, but I’m just a reminder of the Red Room. Bobbi, I love her, I love you, but  _ I have no fucking clue what I’m doing. _ ”

It’s the most emotions she’s ever seen from Nat in the entire three years she’s known her. There’s fear and anger and sadness and excitement and it’s a little overwhelming because she  _ never  _ sees this with Nat. Her emotions are kept in locked boxes, filed away for a punching bag or a three-day long solo mission. But she understands. 

“Hey, it’s okay, Tasha. No one ever knows what they’re doing with kids, I’m pretty sure that’s the first rule of parenting. But that doesn’t matter because you’re already doing the best you can. You could have totally shut her out because of your past but you didn’t and that’s incredible. You’re amazing and I love you and I’m pretty sure Skye does too she just doesn’t understand how to say it yet. We’re gonna work this out together, okay?” Bobbi kisses her then, gentle and soft and pouring every little thing she can’t say aloud into it. Nat has always understood actions over words. 

“I’m really glad I went to that movie with you two years ago.” Nat whispers and Bobbi laughs softly. 

“Together?” 

“Together.” 


	10. Innocent

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Never leave a low level agent with a superiority complex babysit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another Bobbi chapter! I love writing both points of view for this story because it’s just so cute I love this little family 
> 
> WARNINGS: red room, child soldiers, child death(it’s mentioned throughout), panic attacks, past child abuse 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

“Uh, Agent Morse? Triplett told me to come get you, something’s wrong with the Little Widow.” Some Level 4 agent that had been watching the kids whilst Bobbi updated Maria rushed in and told her. 

“The _Little Widow_ has a name.” Bobbi said angrily as she stormed past the cowering agent. Worry filled her chest though as she felt the force of the quaking from the meeting room they’d left Skye and little Triplett in whilst they had a meeting. They’d been watching a movie, what the hell had happened? 

“Skye, what’s wrong?” Skye hadn’t lost control in over three weeks, unless she was asleep and had nightmares. But she was fully awake, panic filling her face as she tucked herself into a corner of the room, tablet smashed on the floor beside her. Tears rolled down the little girl’s face and Triplett looked incredibly frightened. 

“Hey buddy, I think your mom just got out of that meeting with Director Fury, she’s down the hall if you want to go get her.” Bobbi told the nine year old boy, who nodded shakily and left whilst still staring at the shaking girl in the corner who was unaware she was still shaking the room. 

“Они мертвы, Бобби!” (They’re dead, Bobbi!) 

_Shit_. 

Skye knew the remaining girls in the Red Room were dead. 

They’d agreed to keep it from her just for the time being. She was still struggling with the ones she already knew were dead, they didn’t want her to break completely. Skye was the only one they’d been able to save, the leaders had burned the facility to the ground and the girls bodies had been found with bullets in their heads when they searched the charred remains. The trainers and leaders were either rotting in prison or dead. It was truly gone. 

“Извините, звезда.” (I’m sorry, star.) Bobbi whispered, sinking to her knees in front of the sobbing girl as the floor shook dangerously beneath her. “I’m so sorry, but I need you to stop the quake, okay?” 

Skye opened her eyes and seemed to realise that she was quaking the room, her eyes filled with fear and she clenched her fists. 

“No, Skye. Not that way, count and breathe, remember? I’ll do it with you.” Bobbi said, sensing the impending micro-fractures of Skye’s old version of “control”, her arms had only just healed. Skye let a few more tears roll down her cheeks, but nodded and put her hands on the floor. 

“Good girl. Count with me okay?” Bobbi runs through her breathing exercise in Russian, Mandarin, French and German, by the time Skye manages to still the shaking floor. She’s calmed down a bit, still crying but definitely not as angry, which Bobbi counts as a positive. 

“ _Did I kill them?_ ” Skye whispers, staring right into Bobbi’s eyes for the truth. Bobbi shakes her head and wordlessly invites Skye into her arms. The little girl immediately wraps her legs around Bobbi’s waist, still looking at her face. 

“No, you didn’t. The trainers, they...killed them, Skye, after SHIELD got you out. It wasn’t your fault.” Bobbi tells her and Skye begins whimpering quietly. Bobbi strokes a hand through her hair, trying to comfort the traumatised child in her arms. 

“I promised them. I promised that I’d get them out, no one else would go through it. I’d be their Widow, I’d be better than Tasha, they wouldn’t have to be that way. But they’re dead, Bobbi, and I’m here and I  _failed_. ” Skye sobs and Bobbi’s heart splits in two because she’s heard this exact speech from Nat. Nat went around and around with the guilt of the Red Room, sometimes understanding that she was abused and forced to be a weapon, sometimes thinking it was all her fault. But over time she’d learned to go talk to Bobbi or Clint or Coulson, they kept forgetting this was still fresh for Skye.

“Skye, you’re just one person. I know it hurts and I know it feels like you failed them but you didn’t. I promise you, this  _ wasn’t  _ your fault, baby.” It slips out at the end and she doesn’t know how Skye will react to the term of endearment. She loves her Russian nicknames but she normally hated being referred to as a young child, even though that’s what she was. 

But as always, Skye surprises her by cuddling closer to her chest, tucking her soft curls under Bobbi’s chin. 

“Что я могу сделать?” (What can I do?) Skye breathes against her chest, voice choked with guilt and sadness and fear and goddamn it, Bobbi curses the fucking Russian bastards who kidnap kids and rip away their innocence, bending and shaping them to be knives, sharp thorns disguised as roses to be used against the world. But cursing them will get her nowhere and there’s still a crying traumatised assassin in her arms in the middle of a SHIELD meeting room. 

“You can’t change the past Skye, but you can change the future. One day you can do good with SHIELD, pour some white in your ledger. That’s what Nat did, she accepted that she couldn’t do anything for the people that had already died, but she could save people that needed it. I’m sorry Skye, I’m sorry that this happened to you. I can’t promise to make it better but me and Nat are gonna try, okay?” 

Skye nodded into her chest and Bobbi wiped her eyes, offering a smile to show that she wasn’t mad at her, another thing that Skye had come to expect, violence for her tears. It was one of the many things they were working on. 

“I think I scared Trip.” She mumbled, looking back to the smashed tablet at her side. 

“What happened?” 

“We were watching Lion King and Agent Graham said he was “too qualified to be babysitting legacies and baby assassins even if they are from the destroyed Red Room”. Trip said that he was gonna get into the Academy on his own merit not because his grandad was a Howling Commando, but I hacked into the mission reports to see what happened to the Red Room and I saw the bodies...” Skye admitted, turning her eyes down to the floor so she wouldn’t see Bobbi’s anger. 

“I’m gonna kill him.” Bobbi spat, that agent had nearly caused full scale panic attack and a destroyed meeting room, not to mention Skye finding out about the Red Room. Maria was gonna have a field day with his reprimand. She’ll have to recommend Blonsky’s cryo cell. At least he won’t have to babysit kids there, just a chamber with a monster in the middle of nowhere. 

“Are you mad?” Skye whispered, bringing her out of her lovely daydream of Agent Graham sitting in the sub-zero temperatures for months on end. 

“Not at you, though you know better than to hack SHIELD. What did Nat tell you?” Bobbi said, tapping the girl gently on the back. 

“That I wasn’t to hack unless it was extremely necessary.” Skye said sullenly. “I just wanted to know.” 

“I know, звезда. How about we go see if Trip wants to go to the playground? There’s one just down the street.” Bobbi offered and Skye smiled. 

“Can we get ice cream after?” Skye asked tentatively and Bobbi almost wanted to cry because Skye never asked for  _anything_.  The fact that she felt comfortable enough to push her limits with Bobbi was incredible progress. 

“Of course, Skye. Cookies and cream?” They’d discovered it was her favourite when Fitzsimmons had decided to let her try a bunch of flavours when they found out she’d never had ice cream. That was also the day they’d implemented the “Natasha cannot harm other agents when they feed her child assassin sugar after seven p.m” rule because Skye had been on a sugar high and they had to let her run around the hangar for three hours after sparring with the lower level agents. 

Skye nodded shyly and gave Bobbi one last hug with a mumbled “спасибо” (thanks) in her ear before she ran off down the corridor to find the Triplett’s. 

“Everything okay Morse?” Maria came into the room as Skye left, a little red in the face which suggested she’d handled Agent Graham. 

“Yeah, we’re good.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter is gonna feature parts of Iron Man 2, the timeline is definitely off but we’re going with it.


	11. You’re Her Hero

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A conversation between Natalie and Stark, which actually sounds a lot more like Natasha.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so I think I’m gonna kinda follow the plot of the movies? I don’t know if I wanna do endgame or iw because I’m not entirely sure I’m capable of writing something like that. But we’ll see. 
> 
> So, this is set in Iron Man 2, before Stark finds out about SHIELD and whatnot and also kinda sets up Stark and Nats friendship, and also Uncle Tony because Skye is an Iron Man fan okay 
> 
> No WARNINGS for once omg this is a nice chapter 
> 
> Also, I created this thing in this work called Junior SHIELD Academy which is basically where agents kids can go so they won’t be hunted in public schools. So far, Skye, Trip, Piper and Davis go there, oh yeah, Piper and Davis are around the same age of Skye. 
> 
> I think that’s it! Enjoy! -bex xx

Natasha despised undercover. She excelled at it, it was her biggest asset, but she loathed it. Stripping her life and putting on another persona felt like a betrayal to her soul. She’d worked hard to understand Natasha, to leave behind Natalia and become a person she actually liked. 

Normally, it was bearable. Pretend to be someone else for a couple of weeks or months, work her way into the centre of whatever bullshit she’s infiltrating, release the info to SHIELD and fight her way out. Wash her hair and forget whoever she had been. Repaint her nails and slip into bed next to Bobbi and remember who Natasha was. 

This time however, she was almost at breaking point. Stark was a grade-A asshole, (though he was kind of growing on her, not that she’d ever admit it) and she was ready to knock him out. Unfortunately, Natalie Rushman is slightly shy and sweet and well connected, Fury wants to know if Stark will be good for the Avengers Initiative, so she gets to put up with Stark for the next couple of months. 

“So, any family?” He asks one night and she wants to tear his throat out because he’s the reason she hasn’t been able to see said family in over two months. Bobbi texts her regularly, daily Skye updates and the general checking in. She’s on injury leave currently because something went wrong on her mission a week ago. She’s fine, just some cracked ribs and an unfortunate cold, due to slight hypothermia.

Skye’s started school as well, which Natasha’s also missed. SHIELD finally realised that a lot of their agents had kids and those kids needed protection they couldn’t get in public school, and started up the Junior SHIELD Academy. It was basically just a private school but they also specialised in sciences, defence, child-friendly espionage and gifted programmes. Natasha had been wary because she thought it was going to be just like the Red Room, but it wasn’t. Fury had even let her take a tour to prove they weren’t training child soldiers. Skye had apparently made friends with Antoine Triplett and some kids named Piper and Davis, she wouldn’t tell Bobbi their first names. 

God she missed her little assassin. Especially when she heard that Skye was top of the class in the school’s version of ops, math and languages. She’d started learning Japanese and helped encrypt Bobbi and Natasha’s phones so they could text without being discovered. 

In short, she was doing amazing. Though Natasha guessed that Bobbi wasn’t telling her the full story because she was undercover and couldn’t give anything away. She’d find out whenever this bloody assignment finished. 

“Small family. Just my fiancé, my brother, my...uncle and our kid.” She said sweetly, letting an easy smile pass her lips. Stark seemed surprised about the fact that she was engaged, (a lie, technically, she was only dating Bobbi, but in all honesty, and to Hunter’s disappointment, they were forever.) and had a child, (which was technically true, even if they’d only had Skye for a few months). 

“Must be nice.” He said sadly and she felt a genuine rush of sadness for him. He did seem rather lonely, constantly working or hanging around parties or whatever. She kind of understood that life, before Clint and Coulson and Bobbi and Skye, all she had was missions and vodka and the handcuff on her left wrist at night. Neither of their lives seemed like a particularly enjoyable existence. 

  
  


“You know, you’re kind of my kid’s hero.” She told him and he seemed surprised.

“Why?” 

“She’s into computers like you, I swear that child could hack anything. She’s a big Iron Man fan, no matter how much my uncle tries to persuade her otherwise.” Coulson had tried literally everything to get her into Captain America but Skye had developed a love for Iron Man instead, which was honestly hilarious to witness. Fitzsimmons seemed to indulge her love of Stark and replaced her Captain America blanket with an Iron Man one, encouraging her to bring it to movie night. Natasha is pretty sure she’d never seen Coulson so disappointed. 

“I’m not sure I’m the best role model.” Stark mumbled and Natasha wanted to laugh. Skye grew up in the fucking  _ Red Room _ , she lived with spies and scientists that were one fallen test tube away from blowing up the place, she had her own goddamn earthquake powers, she wasn’t exactly dripping in good influences. 

“I think she’d say otherwise.” Natasha smiled. Skye would, once they’d broke through the Red Room programming Skye was always looking out for the little guy, people she could help. Apparently she’d brought an injured squirrel back to the Playground when Hunter let her out of his sight in the woods above the base. Which would have been cute if not for the fact that Skye had perfectly sewn the wound on the squirrel’s back and then kept it hidden in her drawer for a week. Bobbi had sent her many amused texts and Skye wasn’t allowed to go out alone with Hunter anymore. 

“I’ll sign a shirt for her or something.” 

”She’d like that. Thanks, Mr Stark.” 

  
“Goodnight, Ms Rushman.” He smiled and hummed as he went out the door. To his actual bedroom, rather than the lab downstairs she noted. At least she’d made him smile. 

  
Wait. When in the hell did she start caring about Stark?

Oh well, never did hurt to make friends on the job. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As much as I love Cap, I prefer Tony. I rewatched the series and the team kinda treated him like shit so if there’s rewrites of stuff like that, then please don’t be mad. I promise this fic is mostly about Skye and Nat and Bobbi, I just like throwing in random stuff.


	12. Love Isn’t Just for Children, Skye

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A trip to the Barton Farm brings a difficult conversation between Skye and Natasha.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is so long and I have no idea why so just roll with it. 
> 
> I’m so happy to see everyone is enjoying this! Thanks for reading! 
> 
> WARNINGS: Skye just kinda talks bad about herself and there’s mentions of killing kids and attempted rape(not on Skye and non-graphic) 
> 
> malyshka is just the Russian pronunciation for baby or baby girl.
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

“Do we have to go?” Skye asked for the ninth time. They were in the freaking Quinjet at this point, halfway to the Barton farm, they couldn’t exactly turn around. 

“They’re all going to love you, паук, Lila is just a bit older than you, you can make friends with her.” Natasha told her but Skye didn’t seem convinced. She’d graduated to sitting in the cockpit whilst Natasha piloted, unlike when they’d brought her to the Playground or the Triskellion and she had to sit in the back. Bobbi was on mission, but Natasha had just gotten back from undercover with Stark and there was some evacuation in the school due to a science experiment gone wrong, so Skye had a week off. Perfect time to visit Clint and his family at the farm. 

But Skye didn’t seem to share the sentiment. She was practically radiating with tension, in a way Natasha hadn’t seen since before deprogramming. Maybe it was because she’d been gone so long undercover? No, her and Skye had spent the entire week together before this and Skye was fine. 

“Why don’t you want to go, Skye?” Natasha asked softly, but Skye still winced. She began drumming Баюшки-баю, into the seat. It was a nervous habit, they’d noticed she’d tap anything when she was scared and worried, it happened a lot around men. It wasn’t always the same song and it wasn’t always the same finger she tapped, but she did it anyway. They weren’t going to stop her though, Natasha was just glad Skye allowed outsiders to see her nervousness, normally it’s removed in the Red Room. 

“It’s stupid.” Skye said quietly, tapping a little harder. She didn’t want to talk about it, Natasha could tell. She didn’t want to push. 

“Okay,  malyshka . Now, tell me all about your ops class.” She’ll revisit the subject later. Skye would probably love the farm and forget to be nervous anyway. Skye was grateful for the subject change anyway and happily told Natasha how she beat the school record and took down the senior kids in hand to hand. 

* * *

“Hey, little Red. Good flight?” Clint came up the ramp as soon as they landed, waving to the girl in the co-pilots chair. He’d learned the hard way not to touch Skye immediately unless she completely trusted you. He’d received a broken finger and a kick in the balls just for trying to hug Skye unawares. The only guy that Skye seemed to fully trust was Mack, which was honestly the strangest thing in the world. He was visibly, a very intimidating guy, but Skye found him to be a gentle giant. Natasha found it a little hard to get her head around get her head around it, she understood the fear of men due to the trainers in the Red Room but Skye was terrified to be left alone with Fitz, but would happily ride on Mack’s shoulders. 

“Hi, Uncle Clint.” Skye was tense again, tapping some Polish song she’d only ever half heard into the chair. Seriously, what was she so nervous about? 

“Laura and Coop and Lila are waiting inside of you want to run ahead.” He said but Skye turned to Natasha. 

“Могу я подождать, пока ты придешь?” (Can I wait for you to come?) Skye whispered, knowing Clint couldn’t understand Russian. He’d tried, bless him, he just couldn’t get the hang of it. 

“Sure, паук, you want to help with the bags?” Skye wasn’t an overly clingy child, due to her upbringing, so the fact that she wanted to wait for Natasha was strange. She hadn’t been this way with school, according to Bobbi, why was this any different? 

“And home sweet home.” Clint announced as they reached the farmhouse, opening the door to the excited faces of Cooper and Lila. 

“Auntie Nat!” They squealed and Natasha smiled, drawing them into tight hugs. 

She heard a sharp intake of breath behind her though. The ground slightly trembled and just as she was turning around, she saw Skye’s retreating figure as the girl backed away and out the door. 

“Are you Skye?” Lila asked excitedly, the girl was always friendly, but Skye didn’t seem to hear her. Her eyes were wide with fear and there were tears gathering as she stood shaking. 

“Я должен идти!” (I have to go!) She said, her words choked and hard, as she turned on her heel and sprinted out into the farm. 

“Skye? Skye!” Natasha called to the girl, the air around her shaking, the trees quaking as she ran further and further away. 

“You should probably go after her. Bobbi said she wasn’t exactly used to the outside world and there might be traps still set.” Laura told her, concern written all over her features. 

“She’ll be fine, Laura. Leave her for ten minutes, let her calm down. You know she’s a runner, Nat. Give her some space.” Clint advised and Natasha had to take his advice. She didn’t quite understand why Skye had ran, but she could guess that it was fear. 

The Barton’s were a typical family, despite Clint being a SHIELD agent, and Skye wasn’t used to that. Hell, she barely understood why they didn’t still chain her to the bed at night, (there’d been quite a few breakdowns about that according to Bobbi), how was she supposed to understand a family like the Barton’s? It made her feel woefully inadequate, like she wasn’t giving Skye her best chance at a normal life. 

But she remembers Skye’s excited smiles when she learned a new move with her katanas, or a new phrase in Japanese or managed a harder hack. Skye  _ enjoyed  _ this kind of life, it went deeper than the brainwashing of the Red Room. Skye was a natural, it was why she so valuable to the Red Room in the first place. Skye was in the right place with them. 

“Will she come back, Auntie Nat?” Cooper asked her, the ten year old looked incredibly confused at the whole situation and Natasha couldn’t blame him. 

“Of course, don’t worry little Hawk. Skye’s just a little freaked out. She didn’t grow up like you two did, she grew up like me.” 

“With the bad people?” Lila gasped. They’d been told a very watered down version of the Red Room, mainly to explain why Natasha jumped at raised voices or spun knives at the dinner table. They’d been very understanding, considering their father returned home with bullet wounds and hid guns in the walls. 

“Yeah, Lilabug, with the bad people. But we’re helping her. Now, I have to go find her so do you and Cooper wanna go put our stuff upstairs?” Natasha told them, giving them both quick hugs before grabbing a jacket and a blanket for Skye. It’s been closer to twelve minutes, she’s just hoping she can find Skye before she goes too far. 

* * *

“You found me.” Skye says when she approaches. To be fair, it took her over two hours and sorely reminded her of when Skye ran off after hearing about vaccines, (which she now had) because Skye had hidden in the hollow of a tree. For all the growing she’d been doing since SHIELD got a hold of her, she was still small, a lot smaller than Lila. She could still fit in tiny spaces like this, she probably preferred it. 

“You wanna tell me why you ran away in the first place?” Natasha asked, draping the blanket over Skye’s legs which were dangling from the tree. Her leggings are ripped, sneakers dirty. She’d run a good distance, probably about three and a half miles from the farmhouse. 

“мне было страшно.” (I was scared.) It takes a lot for Skye to admit when she’s scared so Natasha’s taking it that she’s calmed down enough to actually talk. 

“Why, паук? It was just Cooper and Lila.” Natasha says softly, letting a hand fall onto Skye’s knee. Skye doesn’t flinch away and let’s her hand stay there, so she squeezes as a prompt when Skye says nothing. 

“They’re kids.” Skye eventually whispers. 

“You’re around kids in school all the time. You don’t run away from them.” Natasha pointed out but Skye shook her head. 

“Those are Academy kids. They’re training to go into SHIELD and they’ve been around it all their lives. Cooper and Lila are  _ normal  _ kids.”

“You know that Clint is a SHIELD agent. Those two have been around this sort of stuff since they were born. That’s not what’s bothering you.” Natasha said and Skye hung her head. 

“What if I hurt them?” It’s so soft that she almost doesn’t hear it. Skye refuses to look at her and Natasha’s heart cracks into a million pieces when she finally works it out. 

Skye wasn’t afraid of Cooper and Lila or their judgement. She’s afraid of  _herself_. 

“Is this about the Red Room?” Natasha says quietly, the weight of the place that destroyed them both hanging over them like a storm cloud. Skye nods, quickly checking her surrounding to make sure no one was listening. She still wouldn’t look at Natasha. 

“Lila’s the same age as the other girls. I can’t make friends with her because what if she ends up like the rest? I killed Anya and Anastasia and Maria and even more than that. What if I kill Lila too?” Her accent is twisted with the Russian twang that only creeps in when she’s upset. She’s crying by the end of her confession and honestly, Natasha feels like crying too. 

How could she have forgotten this? The overwhelming _fear_ to get to close to people for fear of them disappearing or you hurting them. She’d forgotten because she’d gotten over it and Skye trusted her and Bobbi and Mack, but that was it. Bobbi said that whilst Skye had made friends at school, she kept them at an arms distance, never talking about where she came from or how she felt. She trusted May and Coulson to babysit her, but she didn’t divulge a lot of personal information to them. She’d barely even talk to Hunter, she got on with Fitzsimmons though, even if she was wary around Fitz. 

“You know those deaths weren’t your fault.” Natasha says eventually and she feels like a broken record. They tell Skye this constantly but it’s not sinking in yet. Months of a healthy relationship and fragile trust can’t undo the years of poison in the Red Room. 

“It doesn’t matter. I still killed them. I’m still...I’m still a _monster_.” Skye says, silent tears dripping down her face. There’s no tapping, no sobs, no quakes. Skye just seems...empty. Natasha suspects this has been building for a while, the girl had too much going on in her head to be functioning right now, so she was kind of defying the odds anyway. 

“Why do you think you’re a monster?” 

Skye gave her an incredulous look but answers anyway. 

“ _I’ve killed people!_ I’ve put glass in a girls pointe shoes so she’d fall and I could eat that night! I broke a guards arm so he wouldn’t try to rape one of the other girls. I couldn’t save the other girls. I’m a monster Tasha, don’t you understand?” 

“Skye...you did those things to survive. You saved that girl from being raped by that guard, you  _ protected  _ her. I’ve killed people, am  _ I  _ a monster?” 

“No!” Skye vehemently shakes her head, “You do what you have to do to help people.” 

“Then why do you think you are?” Skye didn’t have an answer to that. She was going round it in her head, but Natasha had no idea if she was actually believing her. 

“Look at it this way, do you want to hurt Lila or Cooper?” 

“No! _Never_.” Skye cried, hurt dancing across her features. 

“Have you hurt anyone purposely since you came out of the Red Room?” 

“No...but I still could.” She wasn’t going to let this go, but she was coming round to the idea. 

“And I could still kill Clint or Laura, but I won’t. And you won’t either. I know it seems like the hardest thing in the world, but you’re not a monster Skye. You’re a good person and I love you, okay?” 

“You...ты меня любишь?” (You love me.) Skye gasped and Natasha suddenly realised that she’d never actually told Skye that out loud. Bobbi had, when Skye came home with her first A, but Natasha hadn’t been able to tell her until now. 

“Is that okay?” Natasha said nervously, this meant nearly everything to her. First time she’d told Bobbi she loved her, she ran off on a three month mission and returned to a rather angry girlfriend, before she explained why she was so goddamn scared about those three little words. 

_Love is for children_.  It still reverberated around her head some times, an endless reminder of the damage from Madame and her fucking cane. She was careful with the words now, saving them until she knew it was true. 

“Only if it’s okay to say it back.” Skye whispered, her finger tapping against her leg again and Natasha has never been more happy to hear that old Russian song. 

“Of course it’s okay, Skye, you know that “love is for children” thing is bullshit, malyshka. You can tell us whenever you want.” 

“Then I do. I love you and Bobbi and I want you to be my Mama and my Mom. Is that okay too?” 

“It’s more than okay.” Natasha said, happily.  _Mama_.  Skye wanted her and Bobbi to be her parents, to be her mother. Six months ago, she would have never even let this kind of thing pass her mind, the Black Widow could never be a mother. But then this little girl came into her life and turned it all upside down. 

“I love you Mama.” 


	13. Languages at Breakfast

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An interlude from Clint about the growing friendship between Skye and Lila.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes Skye and Lila are going to be besties and maybe more because I haven’t decided that far in the future. Are we into that? Who knows 
> 
> No WARNINGS just fluff yay! 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

Clint comes down the stairs four days later to find Skye and Lila deep in conversation. Once Nat had convinced her to come back to the house, Skye and Lila had become immediate best friends. They’d practically spent all four days together, much to the annoyance of Cooper who claimed his house was “overrun by girls” and was then strongly reprimanded by Skye who gave a speech Hill would be proud of on feminism and gender equality. 

Cooper hadn’t really spoken about it since. 

But Skye and Lila were constantly together now, playing in the fields or riding the horses or “sparring” even though all the adults could clearly see that Skye was going incredibly easy on Lila. 

This morning they were making flash cards and conversing in a language far too fast for Clint to keep up with before caffeine. 

“Morning girls. What are you doing?” Both heads snapped to him as he poured himself a coffee. He noticed that there was already an empty mug sitting by the sink which meant that Nat had already been up. She’d either gone back to bed or gone out to the fields. Her and Skye were both early risers, because it’d been drilled into them in the Red Room apparently until it became natural. 

“Skye’s teaching me Spanish and I’m teaching her ASL, Daddy.” Lila explained, showing him one of their yellow flash cards that stated the Spanish word for “dog”, with a very accurate drawing and a blue flash card with the sign for “cup” along with another drawing. 

“You didn’t want to teach her Russian, Skye?” He asked the tiny assassin. 

“Spanish is easier to learn if you only speak English. Russian is fun, but Spanish is easier.” He knows she’s neglecting to say that Russian is her comfort language, mainly spoken with her moms, or when she’s upset or sad. The Russian lilt in her voice when she’s tired is one of her cutest attributes and she uses it very well to her advantage to convince him or Laura for one more hour of playing for her and Lila before bedtime. Nat had not been happy when the girls were still up at half three in the morning, curled up on the sofa watching Toy Story. 

“How many languages do you speak anyway?” It wasn’t always easy to get information out of Skye, just like with Nat. He felt awful when she ran on the first day, especially when Nat told him why. How could this sweet, incredibly delightful little girl think that of herself? He prayed Lila never encountered something like that. 

“Six fluently, enough to get by in another three and I’m learning Japanese.” Skye said proudly, she loved languages. Bobbi suspected it was her way to escape in the Red Room, soaking up all these dialects like a sponge so she could daydream about running away or use them on missions or whatever. 

“That’s amazing, little Red. Maybe you can teach us a couple.” Clint joked but Lila nodded seriously. 

“I wanna be an agent like Daddy and Auntie Nat when I grow up and Mommy said that you need to be really good at languages to do that. Will you teach me Skye?” 

Wait, what? Lila wanted to be an agent? Jesus, last year she wanted to be a vet, how did it change? 

“Well, you’ve both got a lot of time to decide what to do when you grow up so I wouldn’t worry too much Lilabug. How about you and Skye show me what you learned in ASL and we’ll try a conversation?” He takes out his hearing aids, placing them in the little case that he consistently lost on a weekly basis and invited the girls to join him at the table, praying it’s enough to distract his daughter from becoming just like him. 

Two glorious hours pass by in near silence as they eat breakfast and have an entire conversation by signing. Skye’s almost fluent, which is incredible, considering she’d only been learning for a week or so. She said she’d learnt the basics back in Russia though, so she had a bit of a head start. Lila and Skye also talk animatedly in Spanish whilst he makes the bacon, Lila’s pronunciation a lot more butchered than Skye’s near perfect accent. If he didn’t know any better, he’d say the girl was actually Spanish and had been speaking it all her life. 

Unfortunately, the girl was a Red Room assassin from Russia and she watched him constantly out of the side of her eye. It hurt, that she didn’t completely trust him, but he knew that trust was earned over time. Hell, it took Nat a full year to talk to him like a friend and no just an ally. He’ll just need to work a little harder. Or just get Lila to translate because his little girl was now best friends with Nat’s baby assassin. 

Speak of the devil and she will appear because Nat comes storming in five minutes later, saying that Fury called and wants them on the Helicarrier in a few hours. Skye’s getting dropped off at the Playground, where Bobbi’s waiting and they’re getting sent on mission. 

Just another week in SHIELD. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so the end of this was Nat and Clint getting sent on their missions they were on in the start of the first Avengers. I’m doing that film but from Bobbi’s perspective and some Coulson death stuff with Nat, so that’s coming!


	14. Grief

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Post-New York

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is set a week after the Battle of New York in the First Avengers, so Coulson just died. 
> 
> Side note, Nat and Bobbi won’t find out Coulson’s been brought back until the HYDRA reveal, which is coming in like five or so chapters. 
> 
> I’m not entirely sure there’s any WARNINGS, mainly just grief and death. 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

The Battle of New York is a shit show and Bobbi’s not even on the front lines. She’d been called up to one of the SHIELD bases in Brooklyn, as close as they could get to the action, so they could keep the public safe. Skye was still in the Playground and Bobbi was praying she wasn’t watching the news. She had enough trauma, she didn’t need to see her Mama jump on the back of fucking alien and hitch a ride to shut down some tower. 

A warm feeling does set itself in her chest when she thinks that way though. Skye called her Mom, Natasha was Mama. Never in her life did she think she’d get to this point, she’d been shot in the wrong place on a mission years ago that completely destroyed her chances of having biological kids and a year into dating Nat, she found out about the “graduation ceremony”, so, no bio kids for either of them. 

But now there was Skye. A fiery, sarcastic brunette with skills leaps and bounds beyond nearly all the Ops Academy recruits, who could speak six languages fluently and cause earthquakes. Now there was this little girl who didn’t even know she wanted love until she had it. Now there’s Skye whose only just worked out she wants her Mom and Mama. 

And Bobbi will do anything to keep them all together. 

* * *

They’re finally cleared to go back to the Playground a week after New York. Clint’s heading back to the farm for the foreseeable, he needs time to recover from Loki and to grieve...

Bobbi doesn’t think that Coulson’s death has fully hit them all yet. 

Barton refused to even look at the body, guilt overwhelming his system and he practically lived in the vents the whole day yesterday. Nat’s quieter than usual. She cried silently into Bobbi’s shoulder for an entire hour and she woke up screaming last night but that’s been it. 

Bobbi had been texting Laura and Fitzsimmons, making sure her daughter was okay and receiving a “she wants you” text which is rather worrying because Skye is never like that. She will gladly sit on Bobbi’s hip or Nat’s lap for hours at a time or cuddle into them before bed but she never complained when they went away on missions unless something was really wrong. 

She texts Laura so she can update her on Clint, who is just as silent as Nat, which is even more worrying because Barton would joke at his own funeral. He’s clicking his hearing aids on and off in the back of the Quinjet, staring into space. 

They drop him at the farm and say a quick hello to Cooper and Lila who seem to pick up on their fathers somber mood and wrap him in their hugs and blankets and their dog, Lucky, who was adopted a month ago. They leave him in the capable Barton family hands and head back to their own daughter who greets them with flying hugs. 

“I missed you.” Skye breathes into their shoulders and Nat holds onto her a little tighter, standing and lifting Skye with her, waking out of the Quinjet and through the Playground back to their bunk. 

“I’m sorry Mama.” Skye whispers to Nat once they’ve all settled on the bed, Skye curled into Nat’s front and Bobbi at Nat’s back, essentially trapping her. 

“What for, паук?” Nat says, her voice hoarse from the disuse. 

“Coulson.” Skye says and Nat freezes, her face displaying a range of emotions it never normally does. Anger, sadness, grief. Skye flinched and Bobbi put a comforting hand on her arm. She didn’t need two panicking spies. 

“How do you know about that?” Nat asked eventually. Bobbi let a hand fall to Nat’s short hair, carding through the scarlet waves and praying that Skye hadn’t seen Loki stabbing Coulson on the Helicarrier. 

“May.” Oh god, May. She’d been stationed here because she’d been injured on mission. Bobbi remembered just how broken May had been after Bahrain, Coulson was the only one she would even let near her for years. How was she going to deal with his death? 

“But you didn’t see it?” Nat pressed and Skye shook her head. Thank god for small mercies. 

“Are you sad Mama?” Skye asked tentatively. Her sheltered upbringing in the Red Room and the fact that all the girls were forbidden from expressing emotion meant that Skye didn’t quite understand emotions even after the five months she’d been free. 

“Yeah, malyshka, I am.” Nat admitted, leaning her forehead against Skye’s. The little girl’s brown eyes widened in shock and Bobbi kissed Nat’s shoulder at her admission. Coulson was their handler, but he was much more than that. He was Clint’s surrogate father, Nat’s mentor, Skye’s third favourite uncle, Bobbi’s friend. Phil Coulson was a good man and he did not deserve to die. 

Nobody did. 

But 74 people died one week ago in New York. SHIELD is supposed to protect the innocent against stuff like this, they are the literal shield. The weight of what has happened finally settles over the room and it feels hard to breathe for a second. 

But then Skye starts singing. 

It’s so out of the blue that Bobbi genuinely thinks she’s hallucinating, because they’ve never heard Skye sing. Her voice is innocent and young, an old Russian song she’s heard Nat hum under her breath when she’s trying to comfort herself, lilting and sad and beautiful. Skye’s fingers trace Nat’s cheeks as the woman cries, tears glinting in the soft light. Bobbi hugs closer to them, tightening them both in her arms letting her own tears fall. 

Skye gets through the song but changes to a different song in Polish, then French, then Spanish, and on and on until her last lullaby in Sokovian and Nat has fallen asleep in Bobbi’s arms. 

“Will she be okay, Mom?” Skye whispers as Bobbi lays Nat down on her side of the bed. 

“I think so, baby. I think you helped a lot tonight. Do you want to sleep in with us tonight?” Skye nods and runs to grab Hermione and Ana and her Iron Man blanket, settling herself in between the two women.

”Does Mama work with Iron Man now?” Skye giggled.    
  


“And Captain America.” 

“Will she have nightmares like me, Mom?” 

“Probably, звезда, but we’ll chase them away, won’t we?” Bobbi gently encircled Nat’s wrist with her hand, just in case. Nat had long since stopped sleeping with the cuffs, but when she’d had a bad mission she sometimes needed the old feeling of security. Skye preferred soft material around hers when she was having a bad night, needing something more permanent than a hand. 

“Uh huh. Good night Mom, I love you. I’m really glad you’re both okay.” Skye mumbled sleepily, curling more into Nat’s side as the woman turned in her sleep and threw an arm over Skye and Bobbi making the girl giggle softly. 

“Love you too, baby. Sweet dreams.” 

And the small family soon fell asleep, drifting into silence with the only sound in the room being their breathing and Skye’s small fingers tapping lullabies in her sleep. 


	15. Skye’s First Christmas

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first Christmas with our fave family.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg this chapter is so long I’m sorry but I love writing holidays. 
> 
> Yeah, May teaches for a while after coulsons death which makes no sense but it’s a cute idea.

“So...what’s your Christmas plans?” Stark asked Natasha, still panting heavily after their training session. 

“Haven’t decided yet. We’re either spending it at home or we’re heading over to Clint’s. It’ll depend on Skye.” It’s Skye’s first Christmas with them. Her first Christmas ever actually, as she was too young to remember the two spent in the orphanage and the Red Room don’t celebrate for fear of treating their students like humans instead of weapons. 

“I still can’t believe you _actually_ have a kid.” Stark said, a wry grin on his face. 

“How come?”

“Well, for one, you’re the Black Widow. And two, I thought it was just part of your cover when you worked for me.” 

“Yeah...sorry about that.” Natasha said. She still felt a little guilty for lying to him. “But Skye is real and still your biggest fan.” 

“Yeah, about that...I have a present for her.” Stark admitted, was that a blush on his face? 

“You didn’t have to do that, Tony.” She said softly, but she was grateful. Stark wasn’t big on people, especially kids if Pepper was to be believed, but he got her daughter a freaking Christmas present. 

“Just tell her it’s from an admirer of her work.” Nope, the shit eating grin was back. Her work? 

“What do you mean by that?” 

“Nobody has ever hacked Stark Industries without being caught and I only knew it was your kid because she left a message. She signed her online name under the lovely note she wrote about how I should respect women more and not be such an asshole all the time. At least I think she called me an asshole, her curses were in Russian. Truly it was an enlightening read, Pepper found it hilarious. You’ve got a good kid and I’d probably hire her if she wasn’t the daughter of one of the scariest people I know.” 

“She hacked SI?” Skye was supposed to be banned from hacking unless it was necessary. This was the third incident of hacking this month alone, she’d already hacked the Pentagon and NASA, again, just to show her friends at school that she could do it. 

“Have I angered the Mama Bear?” Stark laughed, but he handed her a small box, with goddamn Iron Man wrapping paper. “This has better processing speed.” 

Her daughter was going to give her a nervous breakdown one of these days. 

“Have a good Christmas, Tony.” 

* * *

They end up spending Christmas at the Playground. They’re going to the Barton’s for New Years instead, they’d decided it might be better for Skye to experience the holiday on a more lowkey level, than the full throttle “Christmas extravaganza” the Barton’s had. 

The morning isn’t off to a fantastic start because Skye has a nightmare and wakes up at half four in the morning, goes for a run through the vents and returns covered in dust and sweat. But she has a grin on her face once she’d showered and whispers “Happy Christmas” to them in Polish. 

“Do you want to open your presents before or after breakfast, malyshka?” Natasha asks her, already anticipating the panicked look on Skye’s face. They try to give her small choices every day, apple juice or orange juice, black shirt or purple, sneakers or boots. But even after seven months, Skye still internally panics before she makes a decision. 

“You didn’t have to get me anything.” Skye says softly, tapping her finger slowly against Bobbi’s shoulder. Bobbi smiled sadly at her. 

“It’s Christmas, baby girl. Most people get presents on Christmas.” She explained but Skye shook her head. 

“No, I know that. Trip told me in school. I just don’t understand why you got  _me_ presents, I didn’t earn them.” And there it was. This endless cycle they kept trying to break Skye out of, just like Natasha had had to break herself. 

In the Red Room, you have to earn everything you are given. Food, heat, even your life. Skye still thought she had to earn the things she was given. She didn’t eat unless she was told she could, she didn’t sleep until she was told to, she didn’t speak to anyone apart from Natasha, Bobbi, Mack or Lila Barton unless she was spoken to first. 

They’d consulted one of the SHIELD psychologists, Andrew Garner, who was May’s ex, about a lot of Skye’s issues. Skye was having sessions with him once a week and they seemed to be helping a little, she now recognised that things she’d done in the Red Room weren’t her fault and she didn’t need to make up for them. But other things like the “earning things” rule or her fear of being left alone with men who looked like the trainers, were things she’d probably get better with in time. 

The nightmares would never leave, but Natasha knew all about them. They’d just try to help their kid any way they could. 

“Okay, look at it this way. You’re getting good grades in school and you managed that new throw that the junior agents couldn’t do, right?” Natasha said, praying that his would work because she really wanted Skye to have a good first Christmas with them. 

“Yeah, but-“

“And you impressed Stark with your hacking which never happens. You’re good, kind and caringand I think that’s enough to earn your presents.” Natasha cuts her off because Skye was stubborn and they’d probably be here all day if they let her argue her case. 

“Okay, Mama. Thank you.” Skye’s face breaks into an ear splitting grin and the sight warms Natasha’s heart. 

God, she loves her family. 

* * *

“Who’s that one from, паук?” Skye’s holding a Captain America patterned wrapped present, a small box with a card attached. It’s one of the last ones, the bottom of the tree nearly empty. Like most kids, once she got into it, Skye loved present opening. She’d already tried on her new purple wraps for her hands during training, a smaller replica of Natasha’s signature Widow jacket that Bobbi just had to get her and she’d delighted in the vast amounts of SHIELD merchandise she’d received, from shirts to sweatpants to a mini field suit, Skye would be kitted out in SHIELD clothes for years to come. They’d considered getting her toys but Skye never really played with dolls or Lego or cars, unless you counted the full size SUVs she hid in sometimes, so they’d went with things she’d actually get use out of, which Skye seemed to appreciate more. 

Stark’s gift ended up being a StarkPad, with built in tracking and panic buttons which Natasha appreciated. Skye had nearly cried tears of joy because apparently the computers in SHIELD ran too slow and now she could talk to the Barton kids and her friends at school whenever she wanted. 

(There was also the engraved throwing knives they’d given her to replace her older ones that held mostly bad memories. Skye had spent nearly half an hour studying them before aiming one at the wall, narrowly missing Hunter’s head much to Bobbi’s delight because she _still_ hadn’t forgiven him for the “hell beast” comments, before retrieving the knife and going back to her presents.)

“It’s from Aunt May and...Uncle AC.” Natasha felt her heart stop. Time stood still as she thought about the fact that her daughter was holding a gift from a dead man. Coulson had been buried a month and a half ago, somewhere in Milwaukee, where he’d grown up. 

They only really saw May at the Junior Academy now. She’d gone back to her mothers after the funeral then transferred to teaching the kids at the school. Coulson said she’d be great at it apparently. She’d quickly become one of Skye’s favourite teachers, still working on control and helping Skye through panic attacks if they happened at school. 

“You can open it, malyshka, it’s okay.” Natasha said softly when she realised Skye was hesitating. The little girl very carefully peeled the wrapping paper off, being careful not to rip it. She opened the box and pulled out two items.   
  


Coulson’s trading cards and his second favourite Captain America shirt.   
  


Someone had cleaned the blood off the cards and the shirt was folded neatly. Skye’s hands shook a little as she pulled the shirt out of the box and held it up.    
  


“He let me borrow this one time when you were on mission. I got Tabasco down mine and the laundry hadn’t been done.” Skye said wistfully as she stared at the shirt. “I miss him Mama.”   
  


A sob caught in Natasha’s throat. Skye had only just begun to trust Coulson when he died, he’d watched her when they were on mission or needed what Clint dubbed “couple time” and he was so fond of the little girl.   


“We miss him too, детка, but he’s always with us okay? No one is ever gone forever.” Bobbi told their daughter who nodded tearfully and launched herself into their arms. The shirt lands between them and it still smells like Coulson, like her mentor.   
  


She misses him too.   
  


He’s the first person since Yelena she’s missed like this. She goes to debrief after a mission but he’s not there to reprimand her for pulling a dangerous stunt. She sees Skye go to speak to him in Spanish because it’s one of the few languages they had in common but he’s not there to sneak her sugary snacks. Bobbi spent a teary afternoon packing up his stuff to send to May, tears slipping when she bubble wrapped his old spy gear.   
  


Phil Coulson was an innocent, a good man who gave his life for the world. His name is simultaneously white and red in her ledger. She hopes he knows he saved the world.   


“Do you want pancakes now, malyshka?” She asks eventually, once they’ve taken a moment to breathe. Skye nods and slips out of the room to change into Coulson’s shirt, the red, white and blue shield contrasting with her Green Goblin pjs.   
  


She comes back with her hands behind her back and a smile on her face.   
  


“Uh, I know it’s not much but I got you two something for Christmas.” Skye stands a little nervously, they can hear her finger tapping on the paper behind her back.   
  


She hands them both A4 sized pieces of paper, somehow wrapped with gold and silver paper. They both unwrap them carefully, trying not to rip the paper beneath the wrapping.   
  


The papers are different when they get them unwrapped. Bobbi has a drawing and Natasha has...

Natasha has adoption papers. The last sheet, the one they sign their names on. Bobbi’s drawing is one of the three of them, a very accurate drawing because Skye had a talent for art and Garner suggested she use it to describe her feelings. They’re both in their field suits and Skye’s in her favourite leather jacket and her Iron Man shirt, the one Stark signed. There’s a horse in the background, Skye’s favourite one at the Barton farm, Huxley, and they’re in the woods above the Playground.   
  


“I can kind of remember the nuns mentioning adoption at the orphanage before I left, just snippets but I remember it meant your forever family. I looked it up and asked Auntie Maria to get the paperwork. She said you would like it. Is it okay?” Skye explained tentatively, keeping her eyes downcast to avoid the rejection if it comes.   
  


“Of course it’s okay, baby. You’re our daughter and we love you, might as well make it official.” Bobbi said and Natasha just nodded because there’s a lump in her throat the size of the Matterhorn. Skye wanted them, freely and openly. More than titles and blood and coincidences, Skye chose them.   
  


“Я люблю тебя.” (I love you.) Skye whispered, happily looking up at them. “Pancakes now?”   
  


“Pancakes now.” Bobbi laughed and Natasha grabbed their daughter to settle her on her hip. She kissed the little girl’s forehead and thanked whatever god was looking over them for this little miracle. 


	16. New Year

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye and Lila in a field when the New Year bells chime.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay we spreading the Skye/Lila crumbs because I wanna do a whole new fic when this ends about our little legacies like Skye and Lila and Trip at the academy. Lemme know if yall would be into that! 
> 
> Also this is from Lila’s pov so i tried to write from like a younger perspective? Skye and Lila are 8 and 9 when this happens, but let me know if you hate this chapter or anything lol
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

Lila has known Skye for a whole five months, which is quite a long time in her opinion, and she’s pretty sure Skye is her favourite person.   
  


Skye is her best friend in the whole world, maybe even the whole universe. She’s funny and smart and really good at fighting, which is so cool because even Daddy can’t do the things Skye and Auntie Nat and Auntie Bobbi can do.   
  


But sometimes Skye has things called “panic attacks” which are super scary for her because she can’t breathe and she makes things shake and she has to do these things called “grounding techniques” or she could hurt herself or other people.   
  


Skye doesn’t really like her powers all that much but Lila thinks they’re incredible. Skye can cause _earthquakes._ Their parents can’t do that and they’re Avengers.   
  


Her and Skye talk all the time which is really cool because Skye lives at the Playground, which is actually just an underground SHIELD base rather than an actual playground, much to her disappointment when she first visited Skye’s home to pick her and her mommies up for New Year. They talk on video call on their StarkPads and sometimes Cooper tries to come in or an agent tries to annoy Skye but they both run to their “Nests” and everything’s okay.   
  


Skye’s Nest is just an SUV at the Playground but she had blankets and snacks and a pillow in there because they fell asleep watching movies on their projectors that Skye’s Uncle Fitz had made them.   
  


Lila’s Nest is in the smaller barn near the back of the farm. They keep the goats in here during the winter and some of the horses that are more likely to get spooked so it’s quieter. Lila doesn’t really like a lot of noise, she wasn’t deaf like her Daddy but noise is too much for her sometimes. The doctor used words like “sensitive” and “genetics” when Mommy had taken her to get her ears checked. One day she’s gonna find out what those words mean and if it will affect her becoming an agent. 

  
Her and Skye talked about becoming agents a lot. Skye had grown up with the bad people in Russia where Auntie Nat had grown up, which was why she was living with Auntie Nat and Auntie Bobbi in the first place. Sky wasn’t actually their child, she hadn’t grown in either of her aunts tummies like she had grown in Mommy’s tummy. But it was okay because they loved Skye like their own and she loved them. Skye said she’d been adopted by them at Christmas and they were officially her parents which made Lila really happy because Skye wouldn’t be going anywhere any time soon.   
  


“Did you really call yourself Skye?” It’s five minutes till midnight and they’ve been allowed to stay outside in the field because the horses are back in the barn and their parents are a little too tired to argue them to bed. They’ve been lying in the grass and talking about the future and the past.   
  


“Yeah. My old name was Daisy.” Skye said and she sounded a little sad. Skye didn’t really like talking about her life in Russia because she’d been with bad people that had hurt her. It’s why she can’t creep up behind Skye and scare her, the same rule Daddy and Auntie Nat have, because Skye would get scared. Skye has a lot of scars too, like Lila’s appendix scar she got when she was seven, or Cooper’s scar on his forehead where a horse kicked him last year. Skye’s got a lot more than that, and she doesn’t really like talking about them so Lila doesn’t ask. 

“I like the name Daisy.” Lila tells her. Their pinkies are interlocked in the grass. Daisies are pretty flowers and there’s tons of them in the field they’re lying in. If Lila tries hard enough she can trace a daisy in the sky with the stars, like those dot to dot puzzles that her and Cooper do when they sit outside Daddy’s meetings with Uncle Nick when he visits the farm. 

“Daisy did a lot of bad things.” Skye whispers, her accent is more Russian than normal, something that happens when she’s upset or scared. Lila asked her Auntie Nat to teach her, since Skye was already teaching her Spanish and she was teaching Skye ASL, Nat promised to send a couple of Skye’s old books over. 

“That doesn’t make her a bad person.” Her Mommy and Daddy had taught her that since she was little. Just because someone made a bad decision does not make them a bad person. Skye might have changed her name, but Lila knows Daisy’s still in there somewhere. 

“Daisy’s my middle name. You could still call me it if you wanted to, Lila.” Skye says and the two girls turn to face each other in the long grass. This is trust, Lila knows Skye struggles with that. It makes her feel all warm and important inside that Skye wants to trust her with something as important as her old name. No one else could call her that, it was just for them. 

“Skye! Lila! The bells are chiming, time to come in!” Daddy called them in from the front porch. Skye- no, _Daisy_ laughed and pushed herself to her feet, offering a hand to Lila when she’d righted herself. 

“Happy New Year, Lila.” 

“Happy New Year, Daisy.” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The name change was important for Skye to differentiate her new life with her old one, but with Lila, she feels safe enough to share that name. Not that she doesn’t trust Nat and Bobbi and whatnot, just it’s different because they’re yknow besties.


	17. Beginnings

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A simple shopping trip goes disastrously wrong.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh dear we’re ramping up to the HYDRA reveal. There’s gonna be a chapter of fluff and then shits going down. 
> 
> WARNINGS: slight violence, weapons 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

It’s a cold day in mid-March and Natasha has a week off because she just got back from a two month long mission. Skye hasn’t seen her in those two months so Natasha thinks it’s okay if she misses one day of school to go shopping. 

Who would have thought the Black Widow would enjoy a shopping trip? Or want to spend time with kids? Certainly not her trainers and definitely not the public going on the looks she’s been getting all day. But that might be because she’s in civilian clothes or because Skye has blue hair. 

Never let Fitzsimmons babysit. Especially not as a “goodbye present”, they’d been assigned to a mobile command unit with May and some specialist called Grant Ward and a classified CO. They wouldn’t see Skye for months and the girl he managed to convince them to let her dye her hair as a “last hurrah”. God knows where she’d picked up that expression, probably Hunter, before he’d left on mission with some agents called Idaho and Hartley. 

In all honesty, she was amazed at how Skye was dealing with all these changes. May, Fitzsimmons and Hunter had been her constants for months, there from when she first stepped foot in the Playground, and now they were gone. Not forever, but long enough for an eight year old. Natasha and Bobbi always tried to have at least one of them there but it was difficult as they were both high ranking agents with a lot of responsibility and missions, so more often than not, Skye ended up with the agents permanently stationed at the Playground or Mack or Maria, who genuinely enjoyed the girl’s company. 

“Mama? Can we go get something for Lila? Her birthday is in two weeks.” Skye asked, interlocking their hands because there was a lot of people in the mall and Skye genuinely hated crowds. Her finger tapped a song that Natasha didn’t recognise against her leg. Skye was dressed in black jeans and a Black Widow shirt because Natasha still had a sense of humour and the looks people gave them made her laugh. They always tried to look for the similarities between them, clearly trying to tell if the red headed hero could have somehow hidden this biological child away from the world but they never found any. 

“What do you want to get her?” The close friendship that Lila and Skye had struck up could probably rival her and Clint’s. The girls somehow managed to talk every day, despite being on different sides of the country and she knew that Skye let Lila call her Daisy, something even her and Bobbi couldn’t do. Natasha was glad that Skye had Lila, everyone needed a best friend, that was one of the first lessons she learned in SHIELD. Skye had Trip and Piper and Davis and whoever else at school, but it was clear that her and Lila were more than those relationships. Clint was just happy that Lila had made a friend because the girl struggled a bit with social situations at school unlike Cooper, so he was more than happy to facilitate video calls and play dates and sleepovers. It was cute. 

They end up at the massive toy store in the mall, because Skye had decided to get Lila a toy butterfly, because that was Lila’s favourite animal. It had to be blue though, because Skye refused to get anything red which...well, Natasha understood that all too well. 

The day had been so normal that something just had to go wrong. Natasha spots the two men from the next aisle over. 

A far too familiar face. A uniform that haunted her dreams. Guns in holsters. Thick accents that were far too out of place for this part of the world. 

“They’re in the next aisle!” 

It’s the two KGB agents that chased her when she left Russia. She thought they’d been killed. She thought wrong. 

“Skye, I need you to go back to the car. Go back to the car and call Bobbi okay?” Skye looks at her in fear because she can hear the seriousness in Natasha’s tone. Her eyes go wide when she sees the KGB agents behind Natasha, their thick accents boring right into Natasha’s skull where her worst nightmares lived. 

“I’m not leaving you Mama.” Skye tries for strength but her voice wavers. Skye might have been trained in the Red Room and she might live with agents and attend a school that trained spies, but she was eight. She was eight and her family was being threatened and Natasha was not letting them get her again. 

Because that’s who they were here for. Not her this time, no. They were after the last Widow in training they had left. The last one they could still break and bend and twist to become their ultimate weapon. 

Over her fucking dead body. This was _her_ daughter, _her_ child. No one was hurting her ever again. 

“Skye, I mean it. You have to go.” Natasha urges, already placing a hand on her gun. Skye can protect herself if it really comes to that, she’s praying it won’t. Skye carries her engraved knives everywhere she goes, constantly strapped to her thigh or forearm. But she’d much rather her daughter run to safety than have to hurt someone again. 

“Please don’t make me Mama.” Skye’s eyes full with tears and Natasha wants nothing more than to gather her into her arms and run far, far away but the men are advancing and Skye has to go. 

“Skye Daisy Morse-Romanoff.” Skye’s eyes go even wider at the use of her full name. It’s serious now, she’s in danger. “You have to go.” 

“I love you Mama, please don’t die.” Skye whispers, grabbing a knife and turning on her heel. She gives her one last look, nods, and then she bolts. 

“Shit! Get the girl!” It’s Yahontov, the one assigned to her case to bring her back into the KGB. She should have known she couldn’t run from them forever. She couldn’t protect Skye forever. 

“Miss me?” Natasha sneers, eyes blazing because they’re threatening her fucking family and nobody does that and lives. 

“ _Natalia._ We looked for you.” His eyes narrow at her and he nods at his partner to run after Skye, who has thankfully disappeared. Hopefully she’s using her powers to run that tiny bit faster, propelling forward with the air she could manipulate. 

“Seems you found me eventually. Now, if you could kindly fuck off back to whatever hellhole you crawled out of, nobody has to get hurt.” The shop seems to have emptied and the air is thick with tension. Natasha draws her gun and points it at Yohantov, he only smirks at her. 

“Not without your _daughter._ Quite sweet that little bond you seem to have. Didn’t think you’d be capable of loving something else, Natalia.” Of course he didn’t. He only ever saw her and Skye as weapons, knives and blades and guns for their wars. Natalia hadn’t been capable of love because she didn’t know what it was. Natasha though, she knew. She knew that warm rush in her chest when Skye hugged her or called her Mama. She knew the way her heart skipped a beat when Bobbi kissed her or held her after bad nights. She knew the way her stomach hurt in a good way when Clint made her laugh on tough missions. She knew all of it. And she knew that she’d kill this bastard to protect it. 

“I mean it, Yohantov, fuck off. You’re not getting her back.” Natasha’s voice was dangerously low, the hair on the back of her neck was on edge. Yohantov was too calm, something was wrong. 

“It’ll never be over. Something is afoot within your little SHIELD, Natalia, something that will destroy it for good. And when it’s gone, no one will be able to stop us from turning...Skye, was it? Back into our little soldier. She’ll be _Quake,_ and you won’t be able to stop it.” 

Well what in the fuck did that mean? SHIELD had been infiltrated? Maybe Yohantov was just bluffing but it didn’t feel like that. This felt like a warning, an omen. Natasha wasn’t much for signs but this was like a giant goddamn amber alert. 

“We’ll be seeing you Natalia.” And with that, he flew back into the ceiling on a rope. God fucking dammit. She considered going after him but Skye was alone and terrified, she had to make sure she was safe. 

She eventually made it back to the car, the black SUV’s windows were tinted out and the locks were on. Skye had made it back. 

“Skye? It’s Mama, can you unlock the door?” Natasha called through the door and she heard a rapid rustling as Skye unlocked the door. It swung open and Skye was there with a tear stained face and a cut on her forehead. 

“What happened?!” Natasha was immediately gathering Skye into her arms and flipping the car light on to inspect her daughter’s bleeding forehead. It would need stitches but it wasn’t bleeding profusely. 

“He came after me and we got all the way to the car and he tried to grab me but I stabbed him and then he smashed the wing mirror and the glass hit me in the forehead and then I got in the car and locked the doors and he left and Mama I thought you were dead and I called Mom but she’s two hours away but she’s coming and I was so scared-“ It all comes out in a rush and goddamn it she just wants to wrap her baby girl up in cotton wool and never let any more harm come to her. She never wants to see that fear in Skye’s eyes but it’s there and now she has to deal with the fallout. 

“I’m okay, we’re okay, malyshka.” She whispers into Skye’s hair, feeling her warm tears soak her shirt. Fuck the KGB and fuck whatever was happening at SHIELD. Skye was just barely beginning to heal from her past, now there’s a cut on her forehead and fresh scars on her mind. She didn’t deserve this, she was so young and so good. She loved so deeply and all she’d received from the world was cruelty. 

“Don’t leave Mama.” Skye sobs, the sound cutting through Natasha like a knife. She can’t promise Skye this, she never could, but god she wants to. 

“Not for a long time, паук, I promise.” She goes with instead. And of course they’ll have to leave eventually because Natasha has to find out what’s happening in SHIELD and Skye needs to be in a safe place, or at least get stitches, but right now, she’s staying there. 


	18. Uncle Tony

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony meets Skye for the first time.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I think I’m gonna do like three or four more chapters of this? Then we’re done omg until I start the Academy stuff later on, which is already planned. 
> 
> So in this chapter, Skye is with Tony when Winter Soldier happens and when Nat finds out about HYDRA in SHIELD she tells Tony to use a protocol to protect Skye but it goes wrong....
> 
> Next chapter might be a bit dark I’m sorry. 
> 
> Enjoy! -bex xx

Romanoff’s kid is quite possibly, the strangest child he has ever met. That includes Harley, who is normal by comparison to the small eight year old in his lab. 

She doesn’t look like Nat and she doesn’t look like the blonde agent she called Mom earlier either. The kid is Asian-American if he had to guess, long brown hair in neat braids and a fresh scar on her forehead. She’s wearing a white SHIELD shirt with Morse-Romanoff in the back, black jeans and combat boots. 

>> _Nat, why does your child carry knives? TS_

”So...what’s it like living with the Black Widow?” He asks and she smiles at him. He hasn’t gotten a name out of her yet. She’s looking through JARVIS’ code, since she can probably find the holes in the code and if he’s babysitting then she might as well do something useful. 

How did he even get to this point? He’s Tony fucking Stark, he’s Iron Man. How is this the second time in half a year that he’s babysitting some kid? Nat just texted him and asked if he wanted to meet the kid, he of course said yes because this is Baby Romanoff, who doesn’t want to meet her? Then suddenly he’s watching her for the afternoon and Agent Morse is telling him her allergies. 

Of course Baby Romanoff is gluten free. And allergic to peanuts. Not allowed sugar after seven. Nat would have strict rules for her kid.

”I like it. Mama and Mom are great. They’re nicer than the trainers in Russia.” Baby Romanoff replies, turning back to her code. Her finger taps against her leg, a nervous tick he recognises, his dad’s used to do the same at fancy dinners. 

“You’re Russian?” He knew Nat originally came from Russia but she refused to go into her past. And trainers? 

“Not technically, I was born in China then brought to America. I was in an orphanage then I was taken to Russia. Now I’m here.” So, that solved the genetics mystery. Baby Romanoff was adopted. 

“Got a name? I don’t think I can keep calling you Baby Romanoff.” Her smile flickers a little and her finger skips a heat in her tapping. He can see the deliberation in her eyes, she doesn’t know whether she can trust him or not. 

“It’s Skye.” She whispers eventually, already hacking into the servers to turn off the cameras. She knows not for trust just anyone with her name, something Nat taught her or these “trainers” in Russia? The kid was SHIELD, who knew what they kept secret? 

“Cool, I’m Tony.” Skye nods and goes back to JARVIS’ code. 

“There’s a hole here. Anyone can hack into your private bank accounts through this door.” And so begins the blissful three hours they spend going through the code and fixing all the holes and issues. He might be a good hacker but Skye is much better than him, way above even the professional hackers he’s brought in to look at the code when he implemented it. 

Skye doesn’t talk much, which is a nice contrast from Harley who never stopped talking. She’s like Nat in that way, silent but calculating. She could tell a million stories with her eyes. They light up when she’s excited and dull when she’s confused. It’s adorable. 

>> _Your kids adorable Nat, can I hire her? TS_

Nat hasn’t been replying to his update texts that she said he needed to send. They’re being read, but not answered. It’s getting closer to dinner time and Tong supposes he should probably feed the kid to avoid bodily harm from her mothers. 

“Okay kid, so chicken nuggets for dinner?” His phone finally chimes and he pulls out the Stark phone to see the text from Nat that unfortunately sets a chill through his gut. 

“Your mom told me to tell you to initiate Rockstar Protocol? Do you know what that means?” Clearly she does because her entire face breaks into a panic and she immediately opens a SHIELD network on her StarkPad to request a Quinjet. 

What the hell was happening? 

“Skye? What’s Rockstar Protocol?” Her face sets into determination as she hacks into...is that the SHIELD mainframe? Yeah, he has no idea what’s going on. 

“It means that something bad happened and I have to get in the Quinjet that’s landing in ten minutes and go back to the Playground, hide in the panic room and not let anyone in unless it’s Mama or Mom.” Whatever she’s doing in the mainframe she must succeed because she signs out and opens a messaging app. He catches the name Barton but he has no idea if it’s Clint because she types way too fast for him to keep up. 

“Why Rockstar?” 

“I like Van Halen and Mom’s being calling me it recently.” He likes the kid a lot more now that he knows that. Not many eight year olds are into Van Halen. 

“You know, you’d probably be safe here. I am Iron Man after all.” Somehow he already feels responsible for the kid, like he wants to protect her, which is ridiculous because he’s known her for a single afternoon. But it’s Romanoff’s kid and Barton’s niece and she’s a good kid. If he can help, then he wants to. 

“We don’t know who’s turned here. I’m sorry Uncle Tony, but this is the protocol.” Where the hell did Uncle Tony come from? At least she trusts him, Nat said she had issues with that. Like mother like daughter then. 

“You’ll be safe there?” 

“I have no idea.” Skye smiles and then she leaves, heading into the elevator and disappearing. 

He really hopes he’ll see his new niece again. 

* * *

“Skye, yeah?”

How the hell he ended up on kidnap duty for the kid he’ll never know. It’s almost too easy, Garrett just had to hack into her Quinjet requests and send Ward to the call. She doesn’t look like a threat, she only looks about seven. But she’s Romanoff and Morse’s kid and she’s Red Room trained. HYDRA thinks she’ll be an incredible asset once she’s been broken back in. 

“Yeah, who are you?” 

“Agent Ward. Let’s get you home.” Morse has already been kidnapped off the Iliad, which unfortunately HYDRA lost to SHIELD. She’s waiting at a facility where he’s to take Skye. 

He’s got some business to attend to with Agent Morse first, closure for Kara. Strucker’s going to be dealing with the kid. 

“Agent Ward requesting to land.” 

“Welcome back Agent Ward. Were you successful?” A gruff voice returns. 

“Affirmative. Hail HYDRA.” There’s a sharp gasp behind him and the clicking of a seatbelt before he swiftly turns around and sedates her, the tiny body falling into his arms. He shoulders her and heads out of the stolen Quinjet and into the facility. 

Hail HYDRA, indeed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay I’m using the end of season two with Ward and Kara and Bobbi, so that’s where that’s going, which screws up the timeline but oh well.
> 
> Also I realised I just made Skye gluten free which sure we’ll go with it. Any food mentioned in the past was gluten free I guess lol sorry


	19. Snakes

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Skye and Bobbi have been captured by HYDRA.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my god this chapter is dark I’m so sorry. Skye’s hurt but it’s not life threatening and she’s gonna fine just traumatised but Bobbi...
> 
> There’s so much swearing in this chapter I’m sorry but Bobbi is very stressed and upset.
> 
> WARNINGS: torture, Red Room, hydra being dicks, child torture, attempted brainwashing, gun violence, murder

Out of the Morse-Romanoff family of three, Bobbi was the least afraid of needles. She hated them, but she didn’t take panic attacks around them like Skye and she didn’t break the medics fingers like Nat did that first time she needed shots. 

She thinks she’s going to be more afraid of them after this. 

She can deal with the numbness that ebbs and flows and suddenly turns to instant pain, crashing over her like a tidal wave, raking through her veins like hot coals. She can deal with Ward’s fucking face every time he says the word “ _closure_ ” like that’s an explanation for his fucking insanity. She can deal with Kara Palamas’ grin at every tiny wince she let them see. She can deal with all that as she works out how the fuck to get out of this one. 

She can’t deal with the screams. 

Skye’s screams. Her _daughter’s_ screams, ones she prayed never to hear in this circumstances. She can deal with the screams when it’s nightmares or when she’s going too high on the swings. These are pained and guttural and she wants to know what the fuck they’re doing to her baby girl. 

Skye is eight years old and being tortured. HYDRA is back and she has no idea where Nat is. Fury is dead and Coulson’s back from the dead and Fitzsimmons were thrown into the ocean and now Fitz is in a coma. There’s needles in her fingers and she’s _terrified_. 

She promised Skye she would protect her, that was why they created Rockstar Protocol. But Skye is screaming somewhere in this facility and she’s strapped to a chair and Ward is still fucking smirking and she’s going to tear his fucking head off. 

“Cute kid you’ve got there.” He says and she glares at him. This all has to do with the fact that she abandoned Palamas years ago in a safe house and HYDRA got a hold of her. She regrets it of course but it was Palamas or twenty agents lives and she choose the lives of many or the life of one. She regrets it but she’s not sorry because they’ve kidnapped her child and now they’re torturing her poor girl who had already been through enough. 

“What are you doing to her?” She grits out, the wobble in her voice showing the amount of pain she’s in. It’s spreading through her body and she has to come up with something quick if she has any hope of saving Skye. 

“Didn’t know the mighty Quake was a tiny eight year old. They’ve been talking about her in HYDRA for months, ever since she was brought to you. Strucker’s decided to break her back in to HYDRA’s ways. She’ll be a good little soldier.” Fuck. Fuck, fuck, fuck. If HYDRA worked with the Red Room then they knew about Skye’s powers and her weaknesses. The kid is amazing at hand to hand combat and can push a semi off the road at this point, but she hates the dark and bath tubs because the trainers like to teach the girls how to survive water torture early in life. Bastards, every single one of them. If they know what the Red Room know, they’ll know exactly how to break Skye and she can’t let that happen. 

“What do you want from me?” She rasps and they both grin maniacally. It’s fucking terrifying. 

“I think it’s more what you want from us. You want your kid and we want an apology. We can probably come up with an exchange.” Ward tells her. Skye screams again, reminding her of her current problem. She can deal with Ward and Kara’s craziness later, right now she needs out of these bonds and on the other side of that door. 

They stare at each other for about half an hour. Her arms are aching and she’s honestly ready to give up but Skye has been silent for over five minutes. That scares her more than the screams. Ward and Kara leave eventually and she manages to slip out of the cuff, breaking the needles in half and untying her legs. She can hear their voices outside the door and grabs the fire extinguisher beside the door, keeping it raised over her head. 

Ward steps through first and she slams him as hard as she can in the head with the extinguisher, knocking him out cold. Palamas is behind him, too concerned about her psycho boyfriend to notice Bobbi standing over her with the Icer she swiped from Kara’s back pocket, which had originally been stolen from Bobbi. She just Kara square in the chest and emptied a few rounds into each of them just to be safe. 

She finds her batons and tries to work out why it’s so fucking difficult to walk when she hazily remembers a heavy boot on her knee, bending it the wrong way with a sickening crunch. That’s how she got taken. She’d fought the HYDRA agents on the Iliad, then Ward had broke her knee and iced her. 

She’s going to kill him. Once she’s found her daughter of course. 

Its difficult to walk, downright impossible to navigate the stairs, so she makes do with half walking-half dragging herself through the facility, trying to ignore the bone sticking out of her knee. God loves a trier and fuck does she need a miracle today. 

Eventually, she finds a door with _Lab 5_ on the nameplate. There’s a small window and she peeks through and sees a man and one of those metal chairs you see at the orthodontist. The man moves round to the other side and Bobbi nearly vomits at the scene. 

Skye’s in the chair. Electrodes on her head and there’s blood coating her arms and legs. Someone stripped her clothes and she’s lying there in her underwear, eyes closed but not asleep. She’s unconscious. There’s needles and vials of blood and goddamn cattle prods on the tray at the side. 

Who the fuck does this to an eight year old? A fire ignites in her stomach and she completely ignores the bone sticking out of her knee or the aching in her arms or the slight concussion she still has and breaks down the door, advancing on the man immediately. This is the guy who hurt her daughter, who has probably traumatised her for life, even more than she already is. Who knows if Skye is even alive right now or if she’ll even wake up again? 

The guy is caught off guard and fumbles for his gun but Bobbi has already grabbed her batons and is charging on him like a woman demented. How fucking dare he? Skye is a child, not a goddamn animal, why did he use cattle prods? What did he take from her? Why did he take her clothes? It’s all just building and building and she screams and shocks the man with the highest voltage her batons can manage. He writhes and jolts but she does not let up and he falls to the floor. She doesn’t let him move one inch before she’s grabbed a scalpel from the tray and slit his throat. 

“Mom?” It’s weak and it’s faint but it’s there. Skye is awake and staring at her with hazy eyes, pained and sore and exhausted. Bobbi smiles though because Skye is alive and recognising her. That’s a good sign right now and she thanks whoever up there decided to let them have this miracle. 

“Hey, Rockstar.” Skye struggles against the binds on the chair, straps around her ankles and chest and arms, before deciding to quake them off, vibrating the locks until they break. She sits up all too fast and unceremoniously vomits to the side of the chair. Bobbi is over in an instant but she only makes it two steps before she hears a gun cock from the doorway. 

“I wanted closure, Agent Morse.” Two shots ring out and Bobbi can just vaguely see Ward fall as a red hole appears in his forehead and Hunter behind him, with a gun drawn. Time slows down and suddenly speeds up again when there’s an impact with her chest. 

“Mom? Mom! No! Mommy!” The world is going dark and all she can hear is Skye’s screams and Hunter’s yelling and the sound of a med team arriving. She wants to tell them to look at Skye first, but everything goes black and she hopes Skye and Nat know how much she loved them. 

“Mom!” 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Everyone is going to live!


	20. Safe and Sound

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> When all is said and done, they have each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Omg this is the last chapter! I’m so sad this is done but I am starting the academy fic soon so look out for that! 
> 
> Thank you to everyone who read and kept up with this, I’m so happy you liked it! 
> 
> WARNINGS: mentions of torture, violence and attempted brainwashing of a child, injuries, red room, past child abuse 
> 
> Enjoy and thanks again! -bex xx

Natasha has been hurt in her life. She’s been tortured, shot, blown up, abused, kidnapped, stabbed, betrayed.

None of that hurt like this did. None of that could compare to seeing Bobbi in her hospital bed connected to all sorts of wires and cables, her knee all fucked up and a hole in her lung. None of that could compare to seeing Skye curled in bed with tears streaming down her face and bandages wrapped tightly around her arms. 

And of course she knows that Bobbi is going to live and walk again after lots of PT and time, and Skye is fine apart from flesh wounds that will scar and endless trauma. She knows that, but it doesn’t stop it hurting all the same. Bobbi nearly _died,_ they tried to brainwash Skye using the same methods they used on Bucky Barnes. 

Skye. God knows how she’s dealing with all this. She nearly brought the facility down on top of the SHIELD agents once they’d gotten Bobbi onto a stretcher, Hunter tried to pick her up and Skye screamed bloody murder, the building quaking dangerously. 5.7 on the Richter scale, she could have destroyed the place. May eventually got in there and managed to calm her down enough that she passed out. Most of the drugs they put in her system were washed out and there’s no lasting effects of the mind control. Natasha watched the video footage they found of Strucker’s torture on the poor girl, and she had to leave the room to beat up a punch bag. He sliced her with a scalpel every time she refused to comply, light cuts that will scar forever. He never actually used the cattle prod on her, only an intimidation tactic. 

It’s fucking disgusting and she’s glad he’s dead. Skye was eight years old, how can someone do that to a child? 

“Mama?” She’s been watching her sleep, counting the girl’s breaths because she almost lost both of them and she can’t be with Bobbi because she got kicked out to shower and watch Skye. Skye’s thin arms had been curled around her stuffed animals, fingers threading the blanket. She looked so innocent. She’s so young and yet so damaged. It aches because Natasha promised her, she swore, she wouldn’t let her get hurt again.

HYDRA are gone, their little uprising wasn’t strong enough to take down SHIELD but it’s sent warning signals to the entire organisation. Fury’s dead. Coulson is back from the fucking dead and now in charge and Captain America is off searching the globe for his brainwashed best friend. 

But Natasha knows she’s going to hunt down every single HYDRA agent in the world to pay for what they did to Bobbi and Skye. 

“Hey malyshka. Sleep well?” Her voice is tired, she knows this. She’s spent the past week and a half fighting HYDRA agents and soldiers and then the facility happened so she was at Bobbi’s bedside until she woke up and then she was watching Skye sleep. She hasn’t slept in days but it doesn’t matter. All that matters is that the small girl in the bed with Xmen sheets is okay. 

“Where’s Mom?” Skye’s face turned into a frown and then fear as she remembered. She had seen Bobbi get shot. She still didn’t know if she was alive or dead. 

“She’s fine, паук, she’s asleep in the med bay.” Natasha comes over to the bed and slides in beside her daughter. Skye instantly curls into her and drums her finger against the sheets, tapping on Wolverines head. 

“I was scared Mama. I thought she was dead.” Skye whispers, tears slipping down her cheeks and Natasha hugs her a little tighter. 

“I know, baby, I’m sorry.” She murmurs into Skye’s hair. It’s still in the braids she twisted into the brunette locks four days ago. They’re messy and blood and sweat soaked and there’s definitely something sticky stuck in them. Skye still smells like antiseptic and copper, but there’s still the undertone of Skye’s favourite bubblegum scented shampoo. 

“He hurt me Mama. It hurt so much.” Skye sobs into her chest and Natasha starts crying too because her daughter was in pain. Someone hurt her child and she couldn’t do anything about it. This small, loving child that already had been through too much was in agony and she couldn’t help it. 

“It’s over now, he won’t ever hurt you again.” She says eventually, letting Skye crawl into her lap and wrap her bandaged arms around her chest as she cries. She sings an old Russian lullaby, something distant in her memory she remembers her parents, before they sold her to Madame, singing to her when she was three. Her papa, she remembers, he sang it. She rocks Skye as she sings, slowly and cautiously, and eventually Skye stops sobbing as hard. 

“я хочу увидеть маму.” (I want to see Mom.) Skye says, her voice hoarse and sore, eyes pleading as she looks at Natasha. She can’t refuse her, she knows Skye has to see Bobbi for herself. 

“Okay, after you shower we can go.” Skye shakes her head fiercely, suddenly angry that she can’t go now. Garner warned this would happen, Skye had been through incredibly traumatic events, her emotions would be a bit all over the place for a while as she came to terms with what happened. 

“Нет! Я хочу видеть её сейчас же!” (No! I want to see her now!) Skye shouted angrily and Natasha flinched. Skye had never shouted at them before. She’d screamed sure, but that was more at herself. She can’t even find it in herself to be angry, Skye is in pain and watched one of her parents be shot, she was allowed to be angry if she wanted to be. 

“Okay, okay. We can go see her. But you have to shower and eat when we get back okay?” Skye accepts these terms then seems to catch what she’s done. 

“I’m sorry Mama.” She whispers, sliding out of the bed and pulling on a hoodie. It’s Bobbi’s old Academy hoodie and it dwarfs her entire body. It’s quite possibly the most adorable thing she’s ever seen. 

“It’s okay, you’re allowed to be angry Skye. You can be angry or sad or upset and we won’t get mad okay? Emotions are good, remember?” Skye nods and makes grabby hands to be carried through the Playground. Natasha readily accepts and boosts Skye onto her hip 

It’s deadly silent in the medical ward. Fitz is still comatose, he’s still connected to a bunch of machines but they think he’s going to wake up soon. Simmons is flitting between his bedside and Bobbi’s, the blonde agent staring into space. She looks a mess, face bruised and her knee propped at an awkward angle. She’s got another surgery for it later on. But Natasha still thinks she’s the most beautiful thing in the room. 

“Mommy!” Skye cries, disturbing the quiet in the room and flying over to the hospital bed. Bobbi’s face lights up when she hears her daughter and she presses the remote to move her bed up. Skye stops before she jumps on Bobbi, eyes going wide at Bobbi’s bruises. 

“Hey, Rockstar. You okay?” Bobbi says tiredly, opening her arms with difficulty to Skye, who nods uncertainly then clambers up on the bed, avoiding the thick bandages on Bobbi’s chest and her knee.

”Hey gorgeous.” Natasha says as she moves beside the bed, gaining a glare from Bobbi. 

“I know I look like shit, Romanoff.” She says, gaining a giggle from Skye. “Hi honey.” She adds with a smile. 

“Are you going to be okay, Mom?” Skye asks nervously, tracing Bobbi’s bruises with feather light finger tips. 

“Of course, I’m Mockingbird, aren’t I? I’m going to be just fine.” Bobbi promises, but she looks back at Natasha with worry in her eyes. Her knee will probably never be the same and she’ll be off field work for a long time. Natasha places a hand on her arm and squeezes lightly, a silent promise in her eyes that she’s going to be there every step of the way. 

“The snake people are gone now, aren’t they?” They both turn to look at Skye, whose finger is rapidly tapping against the sheets, a Russian polka Natasha hasn’t heard in over a decade. It was the fastest and hardest piece they ever learned in the Red Room. 

“Not completely. But we’re going to stop them, okay?” Natasha says, they promised not to lie to Skye about what happened, she deserves to know the truth. Her life will always be threatened because of who she is and who her parents are, and this has proven that hey can’t protect her forever. But they can prepare her. 

“Okay. What are we going to do now?” Skye says, her finger tapping slower until it stops. She sits back on her heels and looks up at them. 

“I want a vacation.” Natasha says and Bobbi laughs. It’s been a long few days, months even, ever since Yohantov cornered her in that store. HYDRA has been like a shadow hanging over their heads and now it’s over. At least for now, they can take a break. They probably won’t get one, but they can dream. 

“Ow, ow. Okay, laughing hurts.” Bobbi winces and Skye immediately scurries down the bed in fear of hurting her any further. 

“C’mon malyshka, shower then food. Bobbi needs to rest.” Natasha says when they’ve stopped laughing and Skye sighs, but accepts her fate. 

“Oh, I almost forgot, happy birthday Rockstar.” Bobbi says as they leave and Skye looks at them in wonder. No one ever told her her birthday, but they found it in the HYDRA records. Turns out HYDRA and the Red Room were connected. They found pages upon pages of notes about Skye, from her biological parents, (who are now dead) to her favourite food at the time to her favoured knife. They actually learned a lot about Skye, her real last name was Johnson, she’s actually left-handed but they forced her to write with her right, she’s allergic to penicillin.   
  
“I’m nine?” She whispers, staring at her mothers in shock. 

“You bet, July 2nd, 2004.” Natasha tells her and Skye grins. 

“I’m nine!” She squeals, running off to find whoever she can tell first. They hear Mack’s feigned astonishment and May’s gentle reminder to watch her stitches. Natasha turns back around to her girlfriend, who’s near sleep again. 

“I love you.” She says and Bobbi gives her a sleepy smile. 

“I love you too. Go find our nine year old, she needs a shower.” 

Natasha has never been a religious woman, but she thinks just this once, she believes in holy miracles. Whatever was looking over them had decided that they deserved something good and kept her family alive. 

“Skye! Come on, let’s go.” She picks Skye up and the girl winds her arms around her neck. 

“Thank you for finding me Mama.” She whispers into her ear, letting her Russian accent twist her voice. Natasha knows that it’s not just for finding her in that facility or that day in the woods at the farm or the car in the woods above the Playground. She means all those months ago, when she was brought to a foreign country and treated like a living weapon. She means that day in the meeting room at the Triskellion, when she was terrified to even tell them her name and kept knives in her socks. She means the day they took in a eight year old spy with trust issues and a shady past and learned to love her. 

“Always, baby girl.” She says, looking Skye directly in her eyes. “We will always find you. You’re a Morse-Romanoff.” 

**Author's Note:**

> Баюшки-баю is a Russian kids song about a wolf that comes to your room at night.


End file.
